An Underdog's Knighthood (Story 3 of 4 of my Underdog Series)
by The Legendary Dragon Reaper
Summary: During the events of the Ridonculous Race, Adam takes this chance to prepare for Mal's inevitable return. But preparing for this fight will test him in every way imaginable, and the start of it all involves him learning about himself. The age of the Cosmic Knight is upon us. Third story in this series. Multiple crossovers including TMNT 2012, Ben 10, Kung Fu Panda and Fairy Tail.
1. Prologue

" _Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the Wind and Lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take both their powers for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallium was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see Metallum fall for his betrayal. Unsatisfied by this, Metallum made a pact with the Cosmic Elemental of fire, Urere, to create a warrior of fiery pure evil simply to torture each reincarnation until it ceased. Until the day comes when Metallum is slain the cycle will continue and if that day never comes, the true spirit of the Hurricane will be lost forever to the memory of time."_

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A warm summer day over the skies of Toronto.

Adam knelt down and placed some flowers in front of a grave "Hey Carlos, I can't believe how long it's been already. It's been what, a year and a half already? Man time sure does fly, well for me at least. I'm not sure if you see this from where you are now but a lot has happened since you've been gone. McLean said that the cast had outlived their usefulness so now they've moved on with their lives. Me, Cody, Bridgette, Mike and Zoey are all on Spring Break from our first year at Ocean Falls University so that's good. Me and Cody share our apartment near the campus, good thing too because dorms suck. I feel bad for Mike. Trent and Courtney both applied to Julliard in New York and Duncan went with her so they could be closer even if he would never admit it. DJ and Owen went to culinary school so they could start a catering business together, since DJ and his mother's restaurant idea went up in smoke after season 2. Gwen finished up her first year of some art school in Vancouver too, and now she's back here so she can be with Cody over the summer. Plus a new season of Total Drama came out a few months ago with a new cast, including my best friend Mike and my ex girlfriend Zoey, who ended up getting together. Plus on the bright side McLean is in jail for the next year or so for dumping toxic waste and creating an environmental disaster on an island in Muskoka. How much of that did you get the memo for Mike?" note how he said this without bothering to look behind him.

Sure enough, Mike was standing behind him with a bouquet of flowers in hand "You always could tell when I was there, it was always kind of scary. You're thinking about Bridgette's birthday again?"

"I know I shouldn't be brooding over it, I mean it was like 2 months ago but I can't help but shake this one thought. Why do I get the feeling Bridgette's dad doesn't like me?"

"Probably because he's a no nonsense RCAF colonel and you blew up a plane on international TV."

"Yeah, a plane belonging to Chris McLean. Besides it was an accident, sort of."

"Hey don't worry about it dude, it was still awesome as hell."

"And add that to the list of reasons why I think some of your other personalities influence your own, why do you think I never told Devin and Carrie about it until you were on Total Drama? I mean aside from the years of abuse that you got because of it.

"Hey that reminds me there's something that's been bugging me for awhile. Devin and Carrie, is there something going on between those two or something?"

Adam just slapped his face and slowly let it slide down "Don't even get me started on that because once I start, it will take me HOURS to stop. Look here's the drill, Carrie's been in love with Devin since they were like 4."

"Good."

"But Devin has been oblivious to it the entire time."

"Bad."

"Carrie told me during our freshmen year of high school and I've been trying to set the two up ever since."

"Good."

"But the problem is that he hooked up with some high maintenance chick named Shelley and they've been going on again off again every 3 months ever since. Right now they're in their together season as they put it."

"Bad."

"Carrie keeps telling me that she's gonna tell him how she feels."

"Good."

"But the problem is that she keeps chickening out, in case you haven't noticed she's not the gutsiest team out there."

"Bad."

"Will you stop that?"

"Sorry."

"So I gave her an ultimatum, either she tells him before they're through with this new show they're gonna be on or I will tell Devin myself when they get back."

"Kind of harsh isn't it?"

"You try watching that crap for 5 years man, there's gotta be a point where you have to draw the line and this is it for them."

"You know you seem kind of on edge."

"You would too if you were feeling what I am." his bangs began covering his eyes and the temperature around the two of them dropped slightly, his voice low "I've been having those dreams about Mal again."

"...So what then, you think he's gonna return soon?"

"I wouldn't doubt it."

"You think you're ready?"

"I wasn't last time."

"But you're you, I know you can-"

"Mike you know better than anyone that I couldn't even scratch Mal last time, if Carlos hadn't been there in that fight to save me then I would never have made it out alive. Hell even while he was there I still almost lost my eyes. We can't lose even a single second with Mal, we need to be sure of exactly when he'll return."

"So what will we do then? I mean it's not like you can look into my mind and see if he's in there or anything."

"I know that, god it's times like this I hate being human. But you know I've actually been thinking about that, and I might have an idea."

"What do you mean?"

"Well it's true that I can't see into your mind and I doubt Mal would let you know about his presence just yet, but there might be another one who can."

"What do you…" Mike paused, until realization dawned upon him "Wait a second, Adam are you talking about who I think you're talking about?"

"You saw what she could do in season 4, I have no doubt in my mind that she knew about your multiple personalities before even McLean or the producers did. We need to be 100% sure of exactly when Mal will return and if my hunch is true she may be the only person who can help us with that."

"...So when will we do it, tomorrow?"

"No that's way too soon and we'd never be able to come up with an excuse, we'll do it next week."

"Why next week?"

"Because I already looked up her address and it's gonna take at least a few days to drive there and back, which means… road trip!" they high fived "And besides everyone is gonna be busy then. Bridgette is gonna be in some surfing tournament in Australia, Duncan and Courtney are gonna be back in New York, Carrie and Devin and a bunch of others are gonna be competing in some new reality show, and Cody is gonna be on tour with the rest of the Drama Brothers across Muskoka."

"I thought they broke up after World Tour."

"That was because they only had one song that wasn't very good so they worked out a deal with the producers to create and perform extended versions of the sons from World Tour."

"Oh. Cool."

"Yeah I know." his expression turned downcast again "You know one of the most important things that Carlos taught me is that underestimating your enemy can be a deadly weakness, but having faith in your friends and allies can be your greatest strength. We're gonna stop Mal once and for all, and we're gonna do it together."

"Together." they clasped their hands together.

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Sunset came, and the sky had been colored a beautiful shade of pink over the skies of Ocean Falls.

Adam stood on top of a large hill that stood overlooking the town of Ocean Falls, his mind drifting with the wind ' _So I guess the time is coming. Carlos, you brought me to this exact same spot almost every single day in order to make sure I don't lose sight of what's important. But now you're gone, Mal could show his face again anytime now and I can feel the hatred for him burning inside of me, growing stronger every day. You once made me promise that I wouldn't allow myself to be consumed by vengeance but I can't help but wonder, will I be able to keep that promise? I guess there's only one way to find out, but just to be safe…'_ he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number "Hey, it's me. No I didn't fight a kangaroo again, stop bringing that up all the time. Mal is gonna come back, I don't know when exactly but we're gonna find out. As far as I know there's only one person who can help us with that, and we're gonna head up to meet her in a few days. You in? Great, see you then." he hung up and looked up as the sun began to set ' _I can feel it in my gut, a great change is on the horizon. Good or bad I wonder? Well I guess only time will tell…_

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 **(And now just for fun, the theme song for this fic which is taken from the third intro to Fairy Tail)**

Adam stands in a valley of rocks on top of a plateau surrounded by various others, wearing a set of electric gauntlets, the silver colored legs of a knight's armor, a silver colored hood and cape with a battle axe similar to the Stormbreaker wielded by Thor, which he then drops in favor of a magnificent looking sword. He holds up his left arm as it begins crackling with electricity, which then spreads throughout the air above him, spelling out **The Ridonculous Underdogs,** before a blinding white light covers the sky " **Wo-oa-ah! Wo-oa-ah! Wo-oa-ah! Wo-oa-ah!"**

Bridgette and Cody are on the ground covered in wounds, debris and rubble all around the two of them " **Daijobu…"**

Alejandro stands on top of a massive squid like creature, a pair of crimson colored razor sharp claws covering his hands as he roars in triumph " **Ore ga nanman kai mo sakende yaru…"**

Adam, fully armored up with his sword in hand, looks out over the wreckage left behind by the battle, then looks back " **Kimi no ashita ga subete…"**

Alejandro gives him a calm smirk, Bridgette gives him a calm thumbs up, and Cody jumps for joy from behind them, and Adam gives them a small smile " **Kagayaite iru to shinjiteru…"**

Adam looks down over Carlos' grave with his hair covering his eyes as the rain pours down all around him " **Yume o kanaete subete no hito…"**

Sir George, with Ascalon in hand, charges at the seal containing the Diagon " **Ni kasariau kyoutsu ten…"**

Adam stands on the beach looking out at the ocean, with Devin, Carrie, Bridgette, Cody, Alejandro, Gwen, Kevin, Tom, Jen, Geoff, DJ, Owen, Noah, Mike and Zoey standing right behind him. But then he notices the forms of Terrae, Urere and Metallum appearing from beyond the horizon, so he armors up and charges out to meet them head on " **Akirame naka tatte koto soredake sa maken nayo…"**

Silhouettes of Devin and Carrie, along with Gwen and Kevin next to them, are standing back to back, with Tom and Jen standing in the background " **Mukai kaze ni…"**

Silhouettes of Emma and Noah are standing back to back, with Owen and Kitty standing in the background " **Nagasare kujikesou na toki wa…"**

Adam is floating alone in an endless sea of darkness until a ray of light begins to shine down upon him, and he begins to float towards it " **Kono te nigire Try to Make a Chance mou, kimi wa hitori nanka janaize…"**

Adam, Cody, Bridgette, Alejandro, Sir George, Daniel, Dawn and Aurora are all lined up and charge at several shadowy silhouettes, revealed to be Kraang Subprime, Lord Dregg and the Newtralizer, the cloaked Esoterica (Sierra) and Vilgax (infused with Diagon's power), and Terrae, Urere and Metallum at the back, all three of them radiating black auras " **Motto motto mae e mae e kimi no ika shita yume akiramenaide…"**

They all charge, with Adam fully armored up and wielding Ascalon, Bridgette unleashing her water powers, Cody wielding his Yin Yang staff, and Alejandro bracing his Crimson Jaguar claws " **Sou itenai de susume MY WAY ima, Kimi o terashiten da hikari…"**

Metallum, Urere and Terrae all unleash blasts of dark energy that push Alejandro and the others back, but Adam powers through and cuts Terrae and Urere down using Ascalon and begins clashing with Metallum in mid air " **Akirame nanka zenbu sutete tsuyosa to hikikae ni mata kizutsuite…"**

Adam powers up to his maximum form, his Cosmic Knight form with his hair electric blue with a white tint, his eyes gaining electric blue colored irises with silver pupils, and he and Metallum clash in mid air, resulting in a massive explosion " **Demo kimi no massugu na hitomi ni wa, ima mieru daro hikari…"**

Silhouettes appear of Cody, Alejandro and Bridgette watching the fight " **Wo-oa-ah!"**

The same for Daniel, Dawn and Aurora " **Wo-oa-ah!"**

Adam picks himself up off of the ground " **Wo-oa-ah!"**

Adam raises Ascalon and charges as Metallum closes in, resulting in a blinding white light and a massive explosion covering the area.

 **A/N:**

 **This is just a prologue before we get into the really important stuff, it's just a way to recap everything that's happened to the cast and competitors between the end of World Tour and the beginning of the Ridonculous Race, and to show what the actual main character of this entire story, Adam, is going to be up to during this fic.**

 **This prologue is almost the same as the prologue from the original Ridonculous Underdogs story, which takes place at the exact same time as this one, only this one has more added onto it. I noticed that despite all of the work that I've put into that one, it hasn't been anywhere near as popular as its predecessor, the Rise of an Underdog. I did some brainstorming and decided that the main problem was all of the original chapters that I was including in the story. They're all very important to the overall plot of this trilogy but I can understand how people might get sick of them, so this is the solution that I came up with, that being cutting out the original chapters and just pasting them all into another story that takes place at the same point in time as the original.**

 **I got the idea of doing this story from a few episodes of Phineas and Ferb that have done the same thing, after all it might have been a mistake squeezing all of it into just one story, so I decided to put it all into another story entirely. Makes sense right?**

 **Like with the original, this prologue features a recreation of the third intro of Fairy Tail but with Adam and the others as the main characters in place of the members of Team Natsu. Seriously though, while they will not be appearing in this fic expect a lot of references to Fairy Tail later on. Who knows, I might even do more of those later on depending on how people like this.**

 **The original chapters will be the same for the most part, but looking back on them I realize that I was just making several things up as I went along, so I'm going to be editing them before I upload them. Oh, and this means that I will be deleting them from the actual Ridonculous Underdogs story.**


	2. Road Trip

**(Takes place between during chapters 1-3 of the Ridonculous Underdogs)**

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 **(Warning, this chapter will feature Mike and Adam's backstory and it will come off as pretty dark, so read with caution. Also, expect a spoiler for Avengers: Infinity War hidden somewhere in the chapter)**

" _Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the Wind and Lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take both their powers for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallium was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see that Metallum would fall for his betrayal. Until the day comes when Metallum is slain the cycle will continue and if that day never comes, the true spirit of the Hurricane will be lost forever to the memory of time."_

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Adam bolted upwards in his bed, sweat dripping down his face ' _Those dreams again. It's really weird, ever since I killed M'Baku back in Africa more than a year ago I've been having these weird dreams I was in this black void, nothing around me for god only know how far except for this voice. It kept telling me about these things called Cosmic Elementals, reincarnation, some kind of fusion… I just don't get it, what does it all mean?'_

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The skies were clear and calm over the city of Ocean Falls.

Adam prepared to step out of his apartment "Keys to the $75,000 RV. Check. 5 gallons of Tantrum loaded into the back. Check. Well I'd better make that 4, chances are one of them burned through the container already. Whoo!" he ripped a chair in half "TANTRUM!" he heard a knock on the door "Oh hey Zeke."

Sure enough, there stood Zeke looking highly disoriented but still pumped "Hey man, you got a second?"

"What the hell happened to you?"

"Oh Izzy brought me here on a vine she carries around."

"...Neat. So what's up?

"Well I needed to ask you something pretty important, it's about Izzy… You know our anniversary was last week right? I mean you planned out that hot air balloon ride over the city and all?"

"Yeah but you refused to tell me what happened, what's the deal man?"

"You know I feel about her, she's like an angel to me so… I asked her to marry me and she said yes."

"Wait for real? Alright way to go little buddy!" he wrapped Zeke in a hug "I'm really happy for you man."

"Thanks man, that really means a lot coming from you. That's actually why I came here, I was hoping you'd do me the honor of being my best man."

"Are you kidding? Dude I'd be honored." they hugged again, only for it to be cut off by a honk outside "Oh crap Mike and Zoey are waiting. You know Zoey's my friend and all but it's been ages since Mike and I did something together and ever since he and Zoey hooked up he turned from an I to a We."

"What do you mean?"

"You've heard him, any and every time you ask him anything it's like he's speaking for both him and Zoey. It makes you wanna rip his head off." then he heard a loud banging on his door "It's open."

Then Mike burst into the room wearing one of those soda drink hats "Hey Adam check out what I've got! I've got black coffee on the left, I've got Tantrum on the right, do you have another chair?"

"Yes I do." he handed him the chair "You know how this goes right?"

"Yes I do." he ripped it in half and let out a roar "TANTRUM!"

"TANTRUM!"

"Hey guys." and then Zoey showed up "You guys ready to hit the road?"

"...You really invited Zoey?"

"We most certainly did." and they left.

"Oh joy."

Zeke poked his head up in front of him out of nowhere "I don't know if you caught it but about the whole We thing-"

"Yeah I got it."

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It wasn't long before Adam, Mike and Zoey were on the road across Canada.

"Road trip!" Zoey pumped a fist out of nowhere "So you guys wanna talk about punching each other and stuff?"

"We're not those kinds of guys." Adam pointed out without looking back from the road, mainly since he was the one driving and he also came off as pissed but he was keeping it contained. For the most part.

"Oh yeah sure, by the way I have to pee."

"Didn't you go before we left?" Mike pointed out.

"Oh yeah bit I pee a lot."

"We know." Adam said dryly "Bathroom is in the back."

"Okay be right back." and she left.

Mike found Adam glaring daggers at him "Look Adam I know how serious this is-"

"Clearly you don't." Adam hissed in his face "This isn't fun and games Mike, this is because we're dealing with Mal. You of all people should know how serious this is, mainly since he's in your f*cking body!"

"You think I don't? It's just that… Look you know better than anybody aside from me that Zoey is the only girl I've ever been into that didn't think I was a freak or something. I don't want to have to lie to her."

"You meah like you did for a month on Total Drama: Revenge of the Island?"

"Again. I don't want to have to lie to her again."

"Well what exactly did you tell her?"

"That we were gonna take a trip around Canada and revisit all of our old friends from Revenge of the Island. Well, except for Cameron since he's with Lightning on that new race show."

"Like I said, the perfect time to do this until you f*cked it up. Anyway after we see you know who then you guys can do whatever you want while I head to Australia to see Bridge in that surfing tournament." then he smirked "But that reminds me, we have a stop to make along the way." he pulled the RV to a stop outside what looked like a large mansion.

"What are we doing here?"

"You'll see, we've just gotta pick someone up."

"Who are you-"

"I believe he's talking about me." a new voice answered him.

Mike froze "Adam you didn't please tell me you didn't."

Adam shot him a smirk "Like a wise man one said Mike, payback is a bitch and she's back in heat. We're up here Alejandro."

Sure enough, Alejandro made his way up to the front covered in scratches, bruises and a number of bite marks "I'm truly glad to see you actually kept your word and decided to include me in this matter."

"Not like I had a choice, especially not after Area 51."

Mike on the other hand was horrified "No… no no no no no… Just… no. Adam for a guy who's been more secretive than even me about my Multiple Personality Disorder than I am this is a really stupid idea especially for you."

"Says the guy who came up with the idea of lying to Zoey and telling her that you're part of some acting troupe, at least I had the decency to say you had an extended family. Then you go and blow your secret during your third episode of Total Drama!"

"I was in the confessional, it's supposed to be safe!"

"We're talking about Total Drama, nothing is ever safe!" he let out an aggravated sigh as they took to the road again "Look I told you before how he first saw Mal after that incident with the portal back in Area 51, Alejandro is a lot smarter than most of the others so I knew we couldn't hide the truth from him for very long." they engaged in a brief staredown.

Mike let out a sigh "Fine, I don't like it but since you did so much to keep my secret for so long I'll respect your wishes. But don't forget Adam, if he tells anyone who shouldn't know then I'm gonna blame you."

"And I'll take full responsibility for it."

"But I still don't want to tell Zoey."

"I never planned to to begin with, and if all goes according to plan then she'll never have to know about it."

"...So you the two of you intend to continue to speak as if I'm not here?" asked Alejandro out of the blue "I mean you claim this situation with the one known as Mal to be as serious as life and death itself."

"Oh believe me Alejandro, that's the understatement of the year." he looked back for a second and noticed Zoey poke her head out of the bathroom but then rush back in "Look I don't wanna risk Zoey finding out about this so we'll have to wait. We'll tell you tonight when she's asleep and there's no chance of risking her finding out."

"Very well, if that's the way it must be."

"...By the way what the hell happened to your face?"

"Oh I was hoping you wouldn't notice. See what happened was I had decided to follow some advice you gave me and went to see Heather, I climbed up to her window around midnight with a bouquet of roses."

"You tore that page from Carlos' handbook."

"Yes."

"And you guys are a couple now?" asked Mike.

"Well… not exactly. She took the roses, picked off the thorns and threw them all at me one by one. Then she pulled me into an angry yet heated kiss and followed not long after by kneeing me in the groin before dropping me out the window and leaving me to be attacked by her german shepherd guard dog."

Needless to say, that ended any attempts at making conversation for the next few hours.

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Nightfall came, and the group had settled down in a parking lot for the night.

Adam turned on a small lamp in the main room of the RV "Zoey's asleep in the bedroom in the back, we're in the clear."

"Alright." Mike sat down in one of the seats in the back.

"You don't have to tell him yourself you know."

"Maybe not but it wouldn't be right if I didn't have the courage to tell him myself."

Alejandro sat down in the seat across from them "The courage to tell me what?"

Mike let out a sigh "Alejandro, I may not know you or trust you but Adam is my best friend so if he has faith that telling you is the right choice then I'll go along with it."

"Very well, I won't rush you if this is as dark as the two of you make it out to be. Please take all the time you need."

"Alright… This story is one shared between me and Adam, and one that haunts us both day and night but at the same time it's what's kept us connected all these years." so with a heavy heart felt sigh, Mike began his story "My full name is Mike Tremblay, my mother's name is Lucy and my father's name is Steve. Well that's not entirely accurate, you see Steve is actually my stepfather. Before I was born my mother met a man by the name of Logan Gauthier, he is or was my biological father. They started to go out and a few months later he proposed to my mother and she said yes. From what my mother tells me he was a very good and good hearted man back when they first met, but all I know of him from the time I was little was that he was a horrible alcoholic and he made it seriously clear that he never even wanted to be a father in the first place."

"But I don't understand, why did they have even you then?" Alejandro received a shocked look from Mike and cringed "That came out wrong, I apologize. But I mean, of they never even wanted kids then how did you come to be."

"...It was about 2 months after their wedding, one night Logan came home and he was drunk as hell. He went up to my mother in their bedroom and… he… he raped her."

Alejandro's eyes widened in horror and disgust as he heard this.

"It gets worse, when Logan found out that she was pregnant he demanded that she get an abortion for it but she refused to do it. He decided to do it himself, he beat her and hurt her to try and kill me too inside of her but he failed, so he let her have the child. And then about 9 months later I was born." a few tears came to his eyes.

"You don't have to force yourself to tell me this, I'm not going to rush you."

"No it's okay, I can keep going." he took a breath and went on "When I was born my mother gave me the name Michael after my grandfather since he passed away a few months before I was born. My father, he couldn't give less of a damn about me. My mother was the only one who cared about me and gave me all the love, care and support she ever could and I had accepted all of it from her without a second thought. But this is where the Multiple Personality thing came to be. When I turned 3 the man that was supposed to be my father would start to brutally abuse me both physically and emotionally every single minute of every single day and night. My own father…" he wiped away a few tears.

Adam put a hand on his shoulder "Take it easy Mike, too much strain on the brain isn't good for you dude. Not to mention it might end up releasing Mal."

"I know… but now that I've started to tell the story it wouldn't be right for me to stop in such a half assed way." he turned back to Alejandro "When I was 5 years old I was outside playing in our backyard, my mother was inside getting dinner ready. I ended up accidentally tossing my ball into the street and ran out to get it back but… but as I was going to get it… I saw something thundering towards me and this huge white light and then everything just went black for me." he started to tear up again "I didn't even know what had happened but my mom had told me everything… It was Logan, he had crashed his car into me, breaking my arm and leg pretty bad and giving me a serious head concussion… He even almost cracked my skull open, I've still got the scar to prove it to you." he pushed down his hair, revealing a small scar at the center of his skull "My mother ran out and saw me on the ground, she thought I was dead but I was still alive. Well just barely but it still counts. My mom had enough so she called an ambulance and the police. Logan was arrested for child abuse and attempted murder and he was sentenced to life in prison, but he said that he didn't even want a son… He wanted me dead… My own father, the man who helped to give me life, wanted me dead." tears streamed down his face but he went on regardless "I was sent to the hospital and I was in a coma for 6 months, my mother was all alone in the house. That is until she met Steve, the two of them soon became fast friends and soon they even became a couple. My mother and Steve visited me every single day to check on me, the doctors said that I would barely make it but they thought that I would've been dead. All the while I was trapped in my subconscious, I was alone, scared and wanting to see my mother. That, combined with all of the abuse that I took from Logan, all of the things he said to me and added up with being hit by the car… that's how I got my Multiple Personality Disorder." he looked up at Alejandro "Are you crying?"

"No… It's just some condensation." he wiped some of said condensation away "But still that's the most tragic story I've ever heard. But I don't understand, where do Adam and this Mal figure factor into this story?"

"I'm getting to that, but everything you've heard up until now isn't even close to being the worst of it. The real hell begins… when I created Mal."

"You mean because he's one of the multiple personalities that Adam went to such great lengths to keep secret from the rest of us?"

"Yeah. When I obtained my Multiple Personality Disorder it was Mal that was the first one that I had created. Mal was created from all of the negative emotions I had boiling inside of me, my rage, my hatred, my pain, every single horrible moment of the first 5 years of my life was what gave birth to the force known as Mal. He wasn't always like that though… at one point he was my best friend. Mal was created about a month before I woke up from my coma, and when I did the first thing I saw was my mother crying and holding onto me like I'd disappear forever if she let go. My mother told me that she met Steve while I was in a coma, they said that they were gonna get married. I was glad my mom had found new love but at the same time I was scared to the core of Steve hurting me like Logan did for so long. Mal was created in order to protect me from any danger or threats, so in a sense he was like my guardian angel. About a month later my mother and Steve got married and he became my new step father, though I was still afraid of him but he soon showed me that he was different from how Logan was. He actually cared about me and treated me like I was his own flesh and blood, and I was happy. I even changed my last name to Tremblay since it's his and as far as I'm concerned he's the only true father I've ever had in my life."

"So then where do your other 4 multiple personalities come into this story? The ones everyone saw on Revenge if the Island I mean."

"I gained the other four personalities about a week after the wedding. You know Chester, Svetlana, Vito and Manitoba Smith. When they came Mal started to feel jealous, but I reassured him that he wouldn't need to be because he would always be my best friend… but that wouldn't last. When I was 7 my mother told me about my multiple personalities, and surprisingly Mal and the others were okay even after they learned they were just alters… at least I thought that they were okay. That was the start of Mal turning into the monster, but it was still to subtle for me to notice."

"This is where I come into the picture." Adam finally chimed in for the first time "After the big bombshell Mike's personalities, well except for Mal, started popping out whenever they were triggered. Vito came out whenever anyone ripped off his shirt, Svetlana came out whenever he was challenged to anything athletic so she worked wonders in gym class, Chester came out whenever he got frustrated and Manitoba Smith showed up whenever he put on a fedora. But that was where the ridicule started."

"Everyone saw me as some kind of freak, frankly it almost pushed me over the edge and I almost lost it. That is, before I met Adam. He was the only kid who saw me for Mike instead of just Multiple Mike the freak." he received a shrug.

"What can I say? I saw a lonely guy with a good heart who wanted a friend, I figured I might as well be that friend." Adam's expression turned to one akin to murderous "Little did I know it would lead to what is without a doubt the most horrifying night of my entire life."

"What is it?" Alejandro paled at how much darker Adam's expression turned.

"The night my home was burned down and my parents were killed." that froze him in his place.

"You mean…"

"Yeah."

Mike went on with his side of the story "Adam and I were really close friends ever since we were kids, and I didn't realize how jealous Mal was becoming as a result of this until it was too late. Adam and I had been friends for about a year. It was nighttime, I was asleep… when Mal took control of my body. He walked down the stairs and grabbed a butcher knife from our kitchen drawer and walked down the street and he broke into Adam's house." his body started shaking "He snuck up on Adam's parents while they were sleeping and he…" tears started streaming down his face "He stabbed both of them in the chest."

Alejandro's look turned to one of horror "So then…"

"It gets worse from there…" Adam's voice was hoarse "Mal snuck up on me, he stabbed me a few times, threw me out a second story window and then he held out his hand and my house just burst into some kind of black flames with the bodies of my mom and dad still inside. Then he went up to me while I was still on that ground with that sickening sadistic grin, his eyes glowing blood crimson with some kind of black shadowy figure appearing behind him and going into him, his body radiating black energy with black marks appearing all over his body like he and said to me that I didn't deserve to have Mike as my friend and that butting my nose into something that didn't concern me was what cost me everything, and then he warned me that if I ever came near Mike again then he would send me to join both of my parents in Hell. then he ran away. I passed out a few minutes later from blood loss. That night I lost pretty much everything. My parents, my home, and my body was riddled with scars all over my chest, stomach and back."

"What are you saying? I've seen you without a shirt, you don't have a single scar on there."

"...I was hoping I would never have to take this off." Adam slowly removed his shirt, confirming that there were no visible scars "This is what I've let people see from me, but I've kept the truth hidden all this time so that nobody would see the scars of my past. Literally." he gripped his shoulder and ripped at it, revealing a fake layer of skin, and he ripped it clean off all the way, revealing his hidden secret: his chest and stomach were riddled with scars, small but each one was still noticeable and they covered almost his entire torso front and back "These are the physical scars Mal gave me that night, but I still got a lot of emotional ones too. My life pretty much went to hell after that. I lost my family, I lost my home, and after that night my best friend just up and vanished without a trace and I didn't have a single clue where he was. I moved in with Cody and his parents about a week later but I wasn't the same. My heart was dead, any emotions I showed were just an act, a ruse to fool people into leaving me alone so I could just wallow in my own misery. And bowling. And that's when I met him."

"Carlos. Mi hermano."

"Yeah. I was trying to bowl without bumpers for the first time, trying to copy his moves to get a higher score since he kept getting strikes and spares every time. It didn't work, and I was getting frustrated. I think Carlos saw this and wound up trying to help me get it right my own way, even if he did have a tournament to finish him. He guided me in that game and I wound up getting my first strike. I went bowling every Saturday after that, and it turns out he bowled there every Saturday too as part of his league. It was like that for about a year or so, and after the first time I beat him in a game, though I'm pretty sure he let me, he started teaching me a lot of stuff about different cultures and skills and the like. When I turned 13 he made me part of his league with him, and we won like 5 tournaments in a row as a result. But I'm getting off track and kind of ahead of myself. Let's go back about a year, this part of the story is pretty important. By this point I was 12 and I was in 6th grade, but one day gave me a much needed semi eye opener. It was the day I met Zoey."

"I never heard about this part." Mike pointed out "You always just said you and here were old friends and pen pals."

"Because I didn't think you'd wanna know how your girlfriend met her ex."

"...Fair enough, go ahead."

"Anyway she was a new transfer student at my middle school, and she caught my eye pretty quickly. My first thought was that she was cute, but I noticed pretty quick that she lacked confidence. We got to talking and we became fast friends over the course of the next few weeks but there was a problem. I liked her, like really liked her, and that thought scared me to the very depths of my core. Ever since what happened that night my heart was in shambles and my soul was scarred almost beyond repair. I hadn't been able to truly trust anyone, not even my own family, in over 4 years. Everything was just so hard and so confusing. I talked to Carlos about it and he told me that that's how life is, it's a struggle but what helps you to get through the hard stuff is the people by your side. Thanks to that I realized that I might have ended up throwing away what could've been a really close friendship. So I talked to her about it, I told her I wasn't ready for anything like that and I just wanted to stay friends for the time being. Zoey was actually surprisingly cool with that, well one side of her was anyway. It was her Commando side that wasn't so cool with the idea, and I ended up spending the next week locked in her freezer until Carlos found me and let me out."

Alejandro blinked "Wow."

"Yeah. Anyway Zoey transferred to another school a few months later but we were still pen pals, but even after all of that I was still having a hard time trusting people. Then came 7th grade and with it a day that changed my life. It was the day I met Devin and Carrie."

"I see."

"I don't know what it was about me but they just went out of their way to try and be friends with me, but that day was a life changer. The two of them were the first people I was able to trust even a little bit in half a decade. They may not know it but the saved me from myself, and I can never even begin to repay them for it. But when I turned 14 I got the shock of my life, courtesy of a birthday gift from Carlos. Apparently he had tracked Mike down for me so that we could reconcile, but as it turns out…"

"I had been in juvie." Mike took over for him briefly "After what had happened that night with his parents Mal had refused to give me back control of my body so I ended up spending the next 6 years in Juvie. When I finally managed to get back control of my body I found myself face to face with Adam and I poured my heart and soul out to him about Mal and all he had done, the pain he had caused, the people he had hurt and I think he might have met Duncan while he was in juvie."

"...I actually never heard about that part, but go on."

"Anyway I was so desperate for the nightmare to be over that I dragged him into it, I begged him to do anything to help me stop him before anymore innocent people suffered his wrath."

"After that I left and consulted Carlos about what to do, all he said was to do what I thought was the right course of action which really wasn't much help. I felt deep down that the only way to stop Mal was to take him out by any means necessary, I doubt it's the right way but I still think it's the only one that would work. Like how Thanos in Infinity War thought halfway genocide was the only way to save the universe. Anyway I felt like this was something that I had to do myself, Carlos understood this and accepted my decision. I spent the next month training in any and every way I could to be ready for this fight. and the day came where Mal and I actually fought for the first time. I remember that day like it was yesterday. It was pouring rain, lightning was flashing overhead like I had never seen before. Carlos stood nearby on the sidelines looking at Mal with nothing but contempt in his eyes and yet his glare held a small sense of pity. When the fight finally began I fought Mal with everything I had but I was lucky to even get a couple of lucky shots in on his blind spot, and that was before he unleashed… whatever it was. I don't know what it was but I was able to slash Mal across the face with a pocket knife, he kind of, well… exploded. My vision was kind of blurry but some fiery red energy surrounded his body and it was like he was a whole different person. He was so much stronger and faster, and he damaged my eyes to the point where I was nearly blind with just a sweep of his hand. I could still barely see though, so I kept on going. Mal aimed another attack with a knife he pulled out of nowhere and this one would've killed me if Carlos hadn't stepped in and stopped the attack with his bare hand, but he ended up getting hurt in the process. I thanked him for saving me but I also asked him to step aside and let me finish this fight on my own."

Alejandro let out a sigh "Carlos always did say that in battle you either fight to protect one's life or you fight to protect one's pride."

"And I was fighting for both of those things. But Mal was brutal and relentless, he beat me down to the ground and left me burned over about 70% of my body and yes even down there. It still burns when I pee. Anyway Mal had me pinned to the ground and I raised my arms in a desperate attempt to block the strike when something unexpected happened."

"What?"

"Mal got struck by this gigantic blast of lightning that came out of nowhere, that weird energy around his body disappeared and he collapsed to the ground. Carlos took us both to the hospital after that, I was there for a month and Mike was in a coma for just as long. But I never forgot what Mal said to me before he passed out. He kept mocking me about how my so called heroics would be my undoing and that he'd come back, and when he did I would suffer a pain worse than hell itself. So Carlos spent the next 3 or so years training me and teaching me everything he knew and everything I would need in order to be ready for when Mal returned." he took a deep breath "And that's the end of the story, up until now that is."

Alejandro remained silent, but he finally spoke again after a few moments "That's… well for the most part that's one of the saddest stories I've ever heard. On one hand the thought of a foe such as Mal having supernatural powers does leave me rather skeptical, or it would had it not been for the incidents with the alien portal in Area 51 and M'Baku in Tanzania."

"So what then?" asked Mike "Does that mean you'll help us?"

"...Adam you helped to save my from myself after I committed as many atrocities as I did throughout the course of Total Drama World Tour, and you were one of the few people able to truly understand my brother and his wisdom. Therefore, I'm bound by a code of honor to aid you in this quest until your foe is vanquished. I will follow you until the end."

"And for that I'm grateful." Adam told him "Now come on let's turn in, I have a feeling we'll need all the strength we can get for tomorrow."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Morning came, and the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon.

Adam was already driving the RV through the city ' _It shouldn't be too long now, before we have the answers we need.'_

"You're up already?"

Adam looked over and noticed Mike and Alejandro make their way up to the front "I got up an hour ago and I'm not one to fall back to sleep so easily."

"You never told me." Alejandro blurted out after a moment "What the point of this trip is I mean, was it just to tell me the story of your past?"

"...That was only part of it, and a small part at that. Apparently I was one of the few who wasn't sore about McLean trying to screw us over at the beginning of season 4."

"How did everybody take it anyway?" asked Mike.

"Oh they got back at him by keeping the yacht until it hit dry land and Geoff and the others threw a kickass yacht party. Anyway going back to your question Alejandro, aside from those who made cameos throughout the course of the season, none of them really bothered to keep up with the new generation of contestants. Well aside from me and Cody that is. Well I mean granted Mike was the main reason I watched but not long before the halfway mark into the season I noticed something that caught my eye. One of the other contestants was able to figure out Mike's secret without having to be told."

"You mean Cameron?"

"No he's competing on that other show with Devin and Carrie remember?"

"So then who- Hold on, you mean…"

"Her name is Dawn, apparently she was the ability to read the auras of different people and see into their pasts as a result. She was able to use this ability to learn about Mike's multiple personalities, and I believe that if she knows about that then she should know when Mal is most likely to return. That way I'll have a deadline for when and where I have to be ready to fight that bastard again."

"I see, so this is about knowing how ready you have to be and when you have to be ready. This is about setting a deadline."

"That's what I said." he pulled over to the side of the road "Mike go wake Zoey up, I figure we might as well stop off and get some breakfast on the way."

"I suppose it would be best to-" he was cut off by sparks flaring into life underneath his feet in the form of a ring "What the-?"

"Okay what's going on?"

"How am I supposed to know-" he let out a yelp as he dropped through a random portal that appeared beneath his seat, only for it to disappear immediately after, leaving only a card behind on the seat.

"...Alejandro?" he poked the card and picked it up "177A Bleecker Street? Okay I guess we have the place."

"Adam!" Mike burst up to him from the back room "Zoey just disappeared-"

"In some kind of fiery vortex that appeared at her feet?"

"Yeah how did you-"'

"The same thing happened to Alejandro and it left behind some kind of card with an address, I'm guessing that means we found her."

"So we found the place then?"

"Looks like it." they both stepped out of the RV "We're gonna have to go on foot from here."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It wasn't long before the address in question had been found.

Adam stopped Mike at the door of the building "Alright man what do you think?"

Mike looked around "Let's see… Large building that looks like the Sanctum Sanctorum from that Doctor Strange movie, small animal sanctuary nearby, wind chimes and dream catchers across the front… Yeah if Dawn doesn't live here then I don't know who else could." they went up to the door and he prepared to knock on it, only to find themselves already inside before his hand even hit the door "What the-?"

"Okay some serious Doctor Strange shit going down right here."

"I imagined you would come." a voice echoed throughout the building.

Adam looked up, with Mike doing the same, only to see a figure approach them from the shadows "Are you the one that took Zoey and Alejandro?"

"Rest assured your friends are in no danger, I simply sent them through a portal into another dimension while the two of us discuss our business."

"So what does that mean then, you're some sort of sorcerer?"

"The preferred term is Master of the Mystic Arts but essentially yes. Please, call me Aurora if you wish. Adam Anderson, Michael Tremblay, I sensed that you would be coming."

Mike looked over her appearance for a moment ' _Light blonde hair, teal eyes…'_

"I am aware of what you are wondering Michael and yes, Dawn is my daughter."

"Oh really?"

"Greetings friends!"

Mike let out a terrified yelp and whipped around to see Dawn pop up behind him, and he turned into Chester as a result "Dagnabbit, what is it with you kids popping up behind people like that? You nearly gave me a blasted heart attack!" then he turned back into Mike "Sorry, Chester doesn't like to get startled like that."

"No apologies necessary. Tell me Mike, you have come to confirm with me when the great evil resting deep within your mind would return yes?"

"Um… yeah…"

"There is no need to feel nervous, simply take my hands and I shall peer into your mind."

"Alright." Mike sat down on the ground and took Dawn's hands in his, and his eyes suddenly turned white.

"And now, it begins…" Dawn's eyes turned white as well.

"...So what's going on right now?" asked Adam.

"It's one of the techniques of the Mystic Arts." Aurora told him "Right now Dawn is peering into the boy's mind in order to locate the one known as Mal, and once he has been located she will be able to determine how long before he resurfaces and tries to take control of Mike's body."

"So that way I can know how long it is before I have to fight him."

"The eventual battle between you and Mal is inevitable, he is a forced that must be stopped and you are the only one who can. But before you make any assumptions there is much more to this you must know. Please take a seat." she teleported them into another room and sat both of them down in chairs "Tea?"

Adam looked down and noticed a cup of tea in his hand "Thanks but I don't drink tea."

"What would you prefer then?"

"Just some water would be fine I guess-" he paused when he realized that the tea had been changed to a cup of water "Huh. Thanks." he downed it, only for it to refill itself "So there's more to my war with Mal than even I know?"

"Correct. I've searched your aura and the several layers covering it and in your previous duel against this foe you've noticed him unleashed black flames from an unnatural source and he was struck down by lightning correct?"

"Yeah but what does that have to do with it?"

"Much more than you realize young one." she teleported them over to a bookshelf and took out one of the books "Throughout the order of the Masters of the Mystic Arts, all have been informed by the Sorcerer Supreme of the history of the six most powerful beings to ever exist in our reality, or any reality for that matter."

"What are you talking about? I don't get it."

"...What are you saying?"

Since the beginning of time, before what we know as the Big Bang, there have been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate untapped power. When the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang, the remnants of these six systems were formed into concentrated physical forms, each with a single consciousness of its own as well as two Lacrima each in their chest. To them, a Lacrima is the core of their being, divided into two separate objects with two different purposes for each, one of them being used to keep their physical forms and the other to keep their consciousness active, and the other being used to keep their spirits active, for without them their spirits would lay dormant for 10,000 years, either that or their spirits will be reincarnated but I will get into that later. These six beings have been known throughout the 10 dimensions as the Cosmic Elementals, with each being having absolute control of one of the 6 great elemental properties of the universe: Wind, Lightning,Water, Metal, and two of them you have already fought before, those being Earth and Fire. Their names respectively are Tatsumaki, Kaminari, Kaiyo, Metallum, Terrae and Urere. The Cosmic Elementals remained neutral for eons, but eventually they grew tired of this as the 10 dimensions and the universe as a whole quickly fell into chaos, but they differed in their paths: Four of them desired to conquer the 10 dimensions and rule over them with an iron fist, whereas the other two decided to use their powers to help people and improve on their ways of life and one of them decided to remain neutral in this matter. This was the start of the Cosmic War, the Elementals of Metal, Earth and Fire against Wind and Water. The war was fierce and ravaged 3 galaxies, but when it was all said and done they had all survived unsathed but they had scattered, different plans on their minds for the inevitable fated showdown that was to come. Metallum quickly proved himself to be more powerful all of the other Cosmic Elementals and established himself as the superior of Terrae and Urere, and began making plans to invade the Cosmic Ocean of Varuna, eliminate the powerful ruler Hiidrala, and take control of her army of Daagon warriors, and then their conquest of the universe would be that much easier. To this end, he found Kaminari and defeated him in a battle that destroyed three planets, but in the end Kaminari was defeated, and bound by his code of honor, he forced himself to go along with Metallum's wishes. Tatsumaki, on the other hand, tried to convince Kaminari to rebel against Metallum but was unsuccessful, but the two still refused to fight each other unless absolutely necessary, and so they left on neutral terms until the day came. When that day came Kaiyo and Tatsumaki allied with Hiidrala and the Daagon against the forces of Metallum, Terrae, Urere and a reluctant but honor bound Kaminari. Thanks to accessing the power of her Cosmic Lacrima on the deepest possible level, and in the end she was able to defeat both Terrae and Urere before being defeated, but not slain, by Metallum. On the other end of the battle, Tatsumaki and Kaminari had both undergone the same training as Kaiyo and were engaged in a fierce and epic duel. That is, until Metallum made his move: For their failures in battle, he stole one of the two Earth Lacrima from Terrae and one of the Fire Lacrima from Urere and exiled both of them into hiding on different planets, which we shall come back to later on in this story. With the Cosmic powers of Earth and Fire added to his own Metal powers, Metallum then attempted to take advantage of the fact that both Tatsumaki and Kaminari were left too weakened by their battle to fight back. However, Tatsumaki and Kaminari had another trick up their sleeves. Each two Cosmic Elementals come in a set, twins if you will. This would include Wind and Lightning, Fire and Water, and Earth and Metal. One of the abilities that Cosmic Elementals have is to use the element of another one of their own after certain conditions have been met, that being if they absorb a small amount of energy from the Lacrima and use that elemental power for a short period of time. These two took it one step further, and combined into one entirely new being through a process known as Cosmic Fusion and became a new being, with traits of both of their personalities and several times more powerful than either of the two alone. They had become Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The only price was that the fusion was permanent, now that they had become one they could never go back to what they once were. But they were content, as long as they could stop Metallum from unleashing chaos upon the universe they were fine with it. The battle was fierce and even destroyed a number of planets in the process, but in the end the battle had been lost. Metallum had caught Tempestatis from behind and run him through with his metal claws. However, with his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: Even if it took him a thousand lifetimes, he would see that the universe would be free from Metallum and his horrible power, and that the power of the Cosmic Lacrima would never fall into the wrong hands again, essentially meaning that he would continue to reincarnate over and over again until Metallum was destroyed. Metallum was unsatisfied with this victory and used the power of his Fire Lacrima to create a new soul in his image: a fiery warrior of pure evil that was intended simple to torture each reincarnation until the process ceased to exist. Until the day come when Metallum has been slain, the cycle will continue and if that day never comes then the true spirit of the Cosmic Elementals will be forever lost to the memory of time."

Adam took a moment to process this "So let me see if I've got this: There were 6 of these elemental gods, two of them fused together so that leaves 5, the fusion got killed so that leaves 4 of these guys. Does that sound about right?"

"Not exactly, and it's a good thing that you are sitting down for this one. As punishment for their defeat in the war against the Daagon, Terrae and Urere both had one of their two Cosmic Lacrima stolen by Metallum, who implanted both of them into himself and became a hideous and deranged beast who sought only power and conquest. Now that they were nearly powerless, the two of them went into hiding on the far ends of the cosmos. Urere retreated to a remote planet on the edge of the known universe, but that didn't stop him. In a matter of eons he and his army of fire demons and dragons had conquered what we now know as Sphaera Ignis, and he currently rules over it in solitude. As for what happened to Terrae… well that will most likely leave you rather speechless."

"I'm listening."

"So you are. You see, after one of his Earth Lacrima had been stolen Terrae went into hiding on a remote planet on the far edge of the universe. _This_ planet. Earth."

"Hold on, so you're saying that there's some giant rock monster rampaging around on Earth and has been for centuries?"

"He was. Until 20 months ago, but that will come later. When Terrae arrived on Earth, he was terribly weakened and washed up on the shores of Africa, where the native people believed him to be a god from the legends of which they had been taught. While Terrae felt that it was rather indignant, it did provide him with offerings of food, shelter, time to restore his strength, and the chance to create an army and regain his strength so that he could find Metallum, defeat him and take back his Earth Lacrima which had been wrongfully stolen from him. Until that day came he would be known by a new name: M'Baku."

"...Say what now?"

"He was-"

"Yeah I know, that was rhetorical." he got up, grabbed a glass of water, drank down a few gulps and spat the last one out "So you're saying that I've killed a GOD?"

"Essentially yes."

"...Yep it's finally happened, I've been brain f*cked. So what you're saying is… is that I'm the reincarnation of some elemental god from the beginning of time?"

"The 107th to be more specific, but yes. Adam, you hold a great amount of power within the very depths of your soul, power much greater than you realize and you've actually manifested it before. I can see it in your aura, which is actually a nice shade of forest green mixed with sky blue hidden under many protective layers of black and white. You manifested your powers once before, in your previous duel against Mal."

"When did I… Hold on, you mean that gigantic lightning bolt that hit Mal and sent Mike into a coma was one I unconsciously fired at him?"

"Your power has always dwelled within you, yet only once has it ever been unleashed. You must learn to tap into it at will or you will never be able to emerge victorious."

"So what do you have in mind?"

"A simple test, if you pass then not only will your powers be awakened but you will acquire the materials to forge a weapon more powerful than any this world has ever seen."

"And if I fail?"

"You die." the tension in the air grew thick.

Adam stood unfazed "I'll do it."

"I imagined as much, your aura told me so." she teleported them down to the entry hall of the building "I simply require one strand of your hair, that way I'll be able to have an easier time of coordinating where to have the portal take you."

"Sure I guess." so without further ado he ripped out a strand of hair from the back of his head and handed it to her "Here."

"Thank you." she used it as a basis and used her Mystic Arts to create a portal "This will take you to Sphaera Ignis, the realm of fire."

"So what exactly is my test then?"

"You must journey to Sphaera Ignis and seek out the Fire Dragon, then you must slay it and bring its head back here. But be warned, if Urere discovers your presence there then you will never be able to return alive."

"...If it means I can beat Mal and make sure the people I love don't have to suffer the way that I have then it's a risk I'm willing to take." he looked down at his clothes "With all due respect, I don't think a red under armour quarter zip and a pair of khaki shorts are the way to dress when you're entering a world ruled by a fire demon."

"Of course." Aurora held out a hand to him and a white light washed over him.

When the light dissipated, Adam stood now clad in an ocean blue martial arts gi, a black belt, white shin guards, black wristbands and black shoes "Okay this is much better thank you. By the way when you were planning to let Alejandro and Zoey out?"

"...Oh yes of course." she opened another portal.

Alejandro was in the middle of screaming as he hit the ground with a thud, with Zoey landing on top of him "We have been falling… for 30 minutes!"

"There is no more that they shouldn't hear."

"Good to know. Alright, wish me luck." and with that, Adam jumped into the portal, which closed right after.

' _Adam… destiny has big plans for you. Whether those plans be good or bad, only you have the power to define that. I can do little more than wish you the best of luck.'_

 **A/N:**

 **Mike's backstory was inspired in part by a oneshot by Hellflores, you'll find that name in my favorites list and if he or she has problems with it then I do apologize for that. That being said, Adam's side of that story was inspired in part by Erza's backstory in Fairy Tail and I decided to expand a little bit more on his backstory and his friendship with Devin and Carrie, since I didn't that much in the Rise of an Underdog.**

 **The overall road trip idea was inspired by How I Met Your Mother, season 5 episode 4, and I added it in because I thought it would be fun. Hence the constant references to Tantrum, you know the Steroids in a drink that turns people into normal versions of the Hulk.**

 **I decided to add Dawn into this fic, not because pretty much everyone loves her for somewhat understandable reasons, but because of episode 5 of Revenge of the Island in particular. I figured that if she knew about Mike having Multiple Personality Disorder then she should have known about Mal too.**

 **I know I've been foreshadowing Mal A LOT over the course of these stories, which conforms that yes I will be continuing on into Total Drama All Stars with this overall story arc. I think that Mal was a pretty solid villain in a season that had the bad luck of such a terrible writer, so I'm trying to make the most of it.**

 **That line about Thanos was a spoiler for Infinity War, if any readers haven't seen that movie yet then I do apologize for it.**

 **Most of this stuff about the prophecy was stuff I came up with on the fly while I was watching Thor: Ragnarok. I do plan on playing it into a chapter in my All Stars story. Which reminds me, Thor: Ragnarok is now on Netflix as of June 5th so if you want to see it then just go on there and go ahead. Anyway, there's a lot of Doctor Strange stuff in here too since I thought I would expand on Dawn's ability to read auras a little bit more and I figured what better direction to go then the direction of the Mystic Arts?**

 **The realm of fire stuff is just in Latin, based on stuff from Thor: Ragnarok. It was the best I could come up with.**

 **I decided to just reveal the Cosmic Elemental plot points right away because it would make more sense this way, plus I actually hadn't come up with that when I first wrote this chapter so at least now I have a grasp on what to do with it going forward. Oh, and recently I came up with another idea for them that will be expanded on later on.**

 **Terrae being M'Baku, the ape god that was killed by Adam in the Rise of an Underdog, was an idea that I came up with when I was watching Avengers: Infinity War. I figured that since the Tesseract was actually the Space Stone, why not expand on M'Baku being more important than anyone knew.**

 **Kaiyo so I thought it was the best name to give to the Cosmic Elemental of Water. Plans for this one were something that I came up with on the fly because I realized that this was one that I hadn't looked into.**

 **The idea for each Cosmic Elemental having two Cosmic Lacrima (Which is apparently Latin for Tears) as two halves of their core came from the idea of the Dragon Lacrima used in Fairy Tail, and somewhat based on the Ultralink Elementors in the Max Steel 2013 series. Amazing show by the way, it's on Netflix so check it out if you get the chance.**


	3. Enter the Shatterstorm

**(Takes place between during chapters 6-7 of the Ridonculous Underdogs)**

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" _Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the Wind and Lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take both their powers for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallium was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see that Metallum would fall for his betrayal. Until the day comes when Metallum is slain the cycle will continue and if that day never comes, the true spirit of the Hurricane will be lost forever to the memory of time."_

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 **(3 years before the Rise of an Underdog, 6 months after Adam's first confrontation with Mal)**

The skies were calm in the early morning over the town of Ocean Falls.

Adam met Carlos on a hill on the outskirts of the city "I got your message Carlos, what did you wanna talk about? I thought our training session wasn't until tomorrow."

"It's not, but there's something else I had to show you that couldn't wait." Carlos told him "Tell me Adam, when you look out at the city and the people in it what do you see?"

"What do you mean?" Adam sat down next to him "I see the city and the people who live in it, what else is there to see? And how will that help me be ready for when I have to fight Mal?"

"That's not the point I'm trying to make, take a look down there and you'll be able to see so many of the people of this city from here." he pointed to one of the market streets of the city where it was bustling with the night people and early morning people "Every single person in this city down there has their own individual story, their own beliefs and reasons for making the choices that lead them to become who they are today. We all have their own stories just like you do and it could be said that the story is written by the time we come into the world, that all of it is connected together in a sort of grand scheme as it were, that all of the people you see each and every day are nothing more than a small contributions to something greater than each of their own individual stories. It's like a sort of Grand Novel of Life if you think about it."

"What are you trying to get at?"

Carlos gave a small smile "Well mi amigo pequeño, while the thought of it does give me a great deal of comfort I myself am inclined to disagree."

"But why? The idea that everyone is connected to each other sounds ideal though doesn't it? I mean if that's the case then everyone should be able to understand each other shouldn't they? So there wouldn't be any sort of need for people to fight amongst each other if everyone was able to understand everyone else."

"Yes that is indeed true, if there could be universal understanding between all of the people of this world then conflict would be eradicated. However while I do believe that this is a goal that most people would find worthy of striving towards no matter how small or how large the scale may be, I don't believe such a thing as universal understanding truly does exist."

"Otherwise you think people would've already found it and most of the disasters brought about by mankind would never have happened?"

"Perhaps, but now I suppose we'll never know but that isn't the point I'm trying to make. Let me put it this way. For example, if such a thing as universal understanding exists then why are people punished by law for something like theft?"

"Because it's wrong but-"

"By the laws of the land you would be correct, theft is a crime and people do get punished as a result. But consider this, what of the man who steals from a shopkeeper in order to provide for his family when he doesn't have the means to purchase the goods himself? Should he let his family starve in order to protect the profits of the shop owner?"

"Of course not, if universal understanding did exist then there would be no conflict of interest in the situation, the shopkeeper would have understood the dilemma the thief was in and not pressed any sort of charges. Likewise, the thief would most likely have asked the shopkeeper for help rather than actually have stolen the goods seeing how he would most likely have understood that the shopkeeper's own family depends on him making a profit from his goods to provide for them. But that sort of thing doesn't happen in real life, I mean it should but it doesn't, and it's all because of the fact that nobody can see past their own situation."

"That's exactly right. Life is chaotic by its very nature no matter what you do, true harmony is a difficult thing for anyone to achieve no matter how hard one tries or how great the one who pursues it may be."

"So what then, are you saying that there's no point in even trying? That it's all pointless and it won't amount to anything?"

"Quite the opposite actually, the thing that makes life most beautiful is that there is always going to be those who will strive to make things better for others, to stand up for a cause that benefits others and not just themselves. Tell me again Adam, when you look down at the city and its people what do you see?"

Adam looked down and noticed something.

A pair of shoppers had crashed into each other on the streets, but instead off getting mad at each other and accusing the other of being careless, they both just seemed to apologize before they helped each other gather the displaced goods and they went on their way.

Suddenly it made sense to Adam, and he gave his answer "Life."

Carlos nodded in approval "Exactly."

"But I still don't get it Carlos, how is this related to my training for my next fight with Mal?"

"It doesn't relate to it but not everything I'm teaching you has to. You have great potential and a good heart Adam, but you're far too focused on your goal of vanquishing the demon plaguing your friend Mike for it to be considered healthy. You can't base your entire life around this goal or you won't have anything else in life to look forward to once you accomplish this goal."

"What are you saying Carlos, that I should try and be happy with the endless struggle that is my life while my best friend is suffering?"

"That decision is yours alone and I cannot make it for you, you've become so narrow mindedly focus on this goal that you've forgotten what it means to enjoy your life and the opportunities that come with it. A wise man once said that vengeance consumes all who seek it, it can corrupt even the most pure hearted of people and even I myself have fought with it many times over my life. Of course I'm not justifying your actions over the past few weeks but I think you understand where I'm coming from."

"I guess I do but where are you going with this?"

"Take another look out there, beyond the horizon, what do you see in the distance?"

"You mean the sunrise?"

"Exactly now tell me, what do you think of it?"

"Well sure it's beautiful but I usually don't spend any of my time thinking about sunsets when there are more important things for me to think about."

"That right there, what you just said is exactly your problem. You're so consumed by your anger and hatred for Mal and what you believe is your responsibility to stop him that you either fail to notice or just flat out ignore the smaller things in life."

"What exactly are you trying to tell me Carlos?"

"What I'm trying to tell you is that if you don't stop or slow down and look around a little bit in life then you'll never be able to get anything out of it. For the past 6 months you've been focused on nothing but preparing for when Mal will return and you've kept it a secret from your other friends, your family, everyone except for me and it's not going to do you any good in the long run now does it?"

"No… No I guess it doesn't. Is this because I didn't go with Devin and Carrie to see that new Avengers movie about Ultron back in May?"

"If that is how you choose to interpret it then yes. You have to be sure to understand these things before it's too late Adam, as much as the thought pains me I won't be able to watch over you forever. I have to make sure you're able to take care of yourself both physically as well as mentally."

 **(End)**

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Adam's eyes suddenly shot open "Woah man… it was just a dream… No, it was more like a flash of my memories or something…" he looked around at his surroundings and realized he was bound by chains "Oh yeah, ugly smoldering cave, bound by chains and stuck in a cage in that realm of fire that Aurora sent me to a few months ago called Sphaera Ignis." let out a sigh "I've got a pretty good idea of what you're thinking, your big bad hero Adam is in a cage in a realm of fire and you have no idea how the hell he got there. Well let me go ahead and give you the short version, sometimes you've gotta let yourself get caught in order to get the straight forward answers you're looking for. Now for the long version, see I don't see myself as much of a hero as I do of a protector. Of my friends and family I mean. See I'm usually a pretty chill guy, at least on the outside, but the truth is that despite having as many friends as I do I've been keeping a dark secret from a lot of them. Mike, my true best and closest friend since we were like 8 has Multiple Personality Disorder, and one of his personalities is called Mal, a psychotic murderer who nearly ruined my life almost 10 years ago when he killed my parents, burned down my home and scarred me all over my body. I was depressed for a few years until I met Carlos, the son of a diplomat from Spain, and he sort of became like a big brother to me. For a long time I felt like he was the only person I could trust, until I met my friends Devin and Carrie. I didn't really care enough to get to know them at first and honestly just blew them off a lot in an attempt to get them to leave me alone, this applied to Devin a lot more than Carrie. But that all changed one day after school…"

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 **(4 years before the Rise of an Underdog, 6 months before Adam's first confrontation with Mal)**

Sunset came and another day was ending at Ocean Falls Junior High, all of the students were making their way home.

Adam was calmly making his way out of the building, alone just like always ' _And he's gonna show up in 3… 2… 1…'_

"Hey Adam hold up!" sure enough, out came 14 year old Devin, wearing his signature shirt, only it was backwards for some reason "I was thinking, what would you say about walking home together sometime?"

"I'm going left, you always go right." and he walked off on the left path, only to find Devin right behind him "Seriously?"

"What? My homie Carrie lives this way, I mean I could go the other way like I always do but sometimes I wanna enjoy the scenic route."

"Fair enough." they kept walking in awkward silence.

"So are you getting used to 7th grade yet?" Devin received no reply "Do you like any of your classes?" he still received no reply "Oh come on man, just talk to me for one for the love of god!"

Adam stopped in his tracks but he didn't bother to look back "Why do you keep trying to pester me and refuse to just leave me alone?"

"What do you mean why? I just wanna get to know you, I don't see what's so wrong about that."

"Trust me, you'd be a lot better off just leaving me alone and going about your own business. I am the last person in the world you should get involved with."

"What's the big deal? I mean sure you're pretty popular with all the girls because of your cool mysterious dark guy act but you're always on your own acting like you don't even care about anything." he noticed the tension in the air.

"...Are you really that shallow and stupid? There's nothing cool about the hell that is my life, you're just as much of a thoughtless imbecile as everyone else."

"Hey what's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like, I called you an idiot because you are dammit!" Adam finally turned to face him, his face twisted with a disturbing mix of rage and grief "You don't know a single damn thing about me so how about you take a hint and leave me the hell alone!" and he stormed off, leaving a stunned Devin behind.

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The next day came, and the sun was shining high.

Adam was on the roof of the school, staring up at the vast horizon that lay above him ' _Mom… dad… It's been 6 years since I lost you guys and everything else… I know you guys would want me to move on with my life, but I don't think I have the strength to.'_

"I figured you'd be up here."

Adam glanced back and found Devin standing right behind him ' _Great, him again. Doesn't he know how to take a hint?'_

"You weren't in the cafeteria so I figured I would find you up here."

"Well you did and now I'm leaving." he started walking away.

"Hey Adam wait up!" Devin chased after him and grabbed him by the arm "Come on man, talk to me. Look you're right, I don't really know anything about you but that's why I want to get to know you."

"...You wanna get to know me? Fine, here's the deal with me. My life went to shit when I was only 8 years old! My parents were killed in a fire, my home was burned down right in front of me and less than a day later my best friend just up and vanished on me without a trace! And if that wasn't enough, I realized I was gonna spend the rest of my life stuck with this!" he pulled his shirt off, revealing that his chest and stomach were riddled with scars, each one being small but still noticeable, covering his entire torso from the front to the back.

Devin was horrified by what he was seeing "Adam…"

"That night not only scarred me both physically and emotionally, but whatever was left in my heart died that day as well. I haven't trusted anyone else in my life, not even my cousin Cody, who is the only person I find to not annoy the bloody f*ck out of me, except for one guy for the last 4 years of the living hell that is my life and I'm not about to start now. So for once in your life dude, take a hint and leave me the bloody hell alone!" and he stormed off.

Devin just quietly watched him go ' _Adam… The looks in his eyes was so filled with pain and anger… He trusted people once and he was rewarded by losing everyone he cared about, his grief was immeasurable. Now he must believe that trust is worthless, that his emotions are nothing but an anchor to weigh him down. He refuses to allow himself to trust people because he's afraid of losing them and feeling all of that pain again. He refuses to let himself trust anyone else, and even if he denies it he needs someone to save him from himself.'_

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The next day came.

Adam stood at a crosswalk thinking about his earlier conversation with Devin, carrying a bag draped over his shoulder ' _Maybe I was too hard on him before, I mean granted it's not like I'm willing to put myself out there to get hurt again but I could at least try to be nice about it.'_

"Oh hey, if it isn't Adam."

' _And speak of the devil.'_ Adam looked back and saw Devin make his way over "You've been doing that on purpose haven't you?"

"Doing what on purpose?"

"...Never mind, what do you want?"

"Nothing really, I was just gonna head out and see that new Guardians of the Galaxy movie when I saw you here."

"You were gonna see it by yourself?"

"Well Carrie hates those movies. The bag looks heavy, what's in it?"

"Bowling stuff, I'm being mentored in a few senses by the son of a diplomat and he's in a bowling league here in town."

"Cool. You want some help with it?"

"And you want me to hear you out on whatever annoying crap you're about to bring up, am I right?"

"What? Of course not, I just wanna help."

"That stupid look on your face says it all, you have no confidence in what you're saying."

"...I'm that predictable?"

"Everyone is at least to me, I can read people like an open book." he looked over "The light is green."

"Oh yeah, I guess it is." he started making his way, only to suddenly be yanked back by the collar of his shirt as a truck sped across the walkway at full speed "Woah, just… woah."

"I noticed at the last second that the douchebag in the truck was just gonna run the light all the way through without stopping."

"Adam…"

"Have you gotten it through your thick skull yet? No matter what I do everyone around me just ends up getting screwed over in some way, you're better off just-"

"Thanks man, you really saved my butt."

"...Huh?"

"Looks like you landed on your knee wrong, that gash looks pretty messed up."

Adam looked down and noticed a deep gash on his knee "It's not a big deal."

"Of course it is, if you leave it like that then it'll get infected." Devin led Adam over to a nearby bench and pulled a bandage out of his pocket, then placed it over the gash on his knee "There, I think that oughta do it."

"Thanks for that."

"Sure no problem, it's the least that I could do." a brief awkward pause "So about what you said yesterday-"

"It's not like I'm proud of being alone like this, but I let myself get close to people once and as a result I lost my home, my family and my best friend."

"Adam…"

"I'm just a f*cking curse that does nothing but ruin the lives of those around me and end up costing them the ultimate price, so now I can't do anything but make sure I don't let anyone else get close to me or else it's gonna cost them dearly."

"So then that's the main reason why, even when we're at school you…"

"Why the hell do you keep insisting on buddying up to me?! What is it gonna take to get you to just take the hint and leave me alone?! You have to understand by now, all that's gonna happen is that you're gonna get hurt or worse because of me!"

"And are you gonna be okay with that if I do?" that shut him up "You keep saying that you don't want anyone to get hurt because of you but I don't buy that for a second, you're the one that's been hurting all this time not me or anyone else!"

"Well it's not like there's anything I can do, you think I'm proud of being alone?! The last thing I want is to hurt people or to get hurt, but what makes my blood burn to the core of my being is when I make mistakes I can't take back and the people I care about slip through my fingers because of it! That's why I'm better off just being all alone and the world is better off because of it!" a brief pause followed the outburst.

"Adam listen to me." Devin put a hand on his shoulder "Whether you do anything or not you can't control life and death, you're human just like the rest of us and people who want to leave are gonna leave but not everyone you'll meet is like that. How about we give this a shot?" he gripped Adam by the shoulders "I'll stay with you from here on out, no matter what happens I'm not gonna leave your side. How about that?"

"...Are you for real with this?"

"Of course I am, after all as far as I'm concerned you and I have been friends for weeks. What you're not gonna cry are you?"

"No! Any tears I had dried up years ago, but thanks for real… Devin."

"Hey you actually called me by my name instead of calling me a pest, that's progress if I've ever seen any." they shook hands and clasped them firmly "Good to have you as a friend Adam."

"Same thing Devin, same thing."

 **(End)**

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"And we've been close friends ever since." Adam finished his backstory "Anyway shit hit the fan about 6 months later when I turned 14, Carlos got me a life changer of a birthday present. He had somehow tracked down Mike for me so that we could reconcile, but as it turns out he had spent the last 6 years in juvie. After what happened with my parents Mal had refused to give control of the body back over to Mike so he ended up in juvie. Carlos took me to visit him in the detention center he was in, and for reasons I still don't know Mal had decided to give Mike back control of his body and so he poured his heart and soul out to me about Mal and everything he had done, the pain he had caused, the people he had hurt, and how he couldn't live with himself if Mal were to continue to run around free. He was practically in tears and begging me to help him in any way I could before more innocent people would suffer the way that me and my parents had because of Mal and his actions. I didn't say anything to that, I had just left. After that I went to consult Carlos about what to do and all he said was to do what I thought was the best decision in these circumstances. It really wasn't much help but I did spend the next week or so thinking about it but I kept to myself. I felt deep down that there was only one way to stop Mal from hurting anymore innocent people like he had my parents, I had my doubts that it was the right way but I thought it was the only way it would work I felt like this was something I had to do myself so I asked Carlos to let me do this on my own. He understood this and accepted my decision. I spent the next month training in any and every way I could to be ready for this fight. and the day came where Mal and I actually fought for the first time. I remember that day like it was yesterday. It was pouring rain, lightning was flashing overhead like I had never seen before. Carlos stood nearby on the sidelines looking at Mal with nothing but contempt in his eyes and yet his glare held a small sense of pity. When the fight finally began I fought Mal with everything I had but I was lucky to even get a couple of lucky shots in on his blind spot, and that was before he unleashed… whatever it was. I don't know what it was but I was able to slash Mal across the face with a pocket knife, he kind of, well… exploded. My vision was kind of blurry but some fiery red energy surrounded his body and it was like he was a whole different person. He was so much stronger and faster, and he damaged my eyes to the point where I was nearly blind with just a sweep of his hand. I could still barely see though, so I kept on going. Mal aimed another attack with a knife he pulled out of nowhere and this one would've killed me if Carlos hadn't stepped in and stopped the attack with his bare hand, but he ended up getting hurt in the process. I thanked him for saving me but I also asked him to step aside and let me finish this fight on my own. You see, Carlos taught me that there are two types of fights. There's a fight to protect one's life and a fight to protect one's pride. I was fighting for both of those things. But Mal was brutal and relentless, he beat me down to the ground and left me burned over about 70% of my body and yes even down there. It still burns when I pee. Anyway Mal had me pinned to the ground and I raised my arms in a desperate attempt to block the strike when something unexpected happened. Mal got struck by this gigantic blast of lightning that came out of nowhere, that weird energy around his body disappeared and he collapsed to the ground. Carlos took us both to the hospital after that, I was there for a month and Mike was in a coma for just as long. But I never forgot what Mal said to me before he passed out. He kept mocking me about how my so called heroics would be my undoing and that he'd come back, and when he did I would suffer a pain worse than hell itself. So Carlos spent the next 3 or so years training me and teaching me everything he knew and everything I would need in order to be ready for when Mal returned. That's how it's been for the next 3 years or so, until I found out that my cousin or adoptive little brother Cody was going back onto this show called Total Drama so I decided to go with him to make sure he won. I ended up becoming the unofficial leader of my team called Team Mystery, consisting of me and Cody and our other 5 team members, Bridgette, Gwen, Trent, DJ and Zeke. But this is where it gets complicated, mainly because the biggest threat to me and everyone else was Alejandro, Carlos' younger brother who was basically there to win by any means necessary and cause some serious shit along the way so I teamed up with one of his teammates, a snarky smartass by the name of Noah, to put Alejandro in his place one step at a time. But that turned out to be easier said than done, he's almost as intelligent as Carlos and just as deceitful as the evil brother Jose. He was able to pick off his enemies one by one until the final 5, with only me, Cody, Bridgette and Noah standing in his way. I managed to get under his skin and got him to reveal why he was doing all of the things that he was. I didn't show it at the time but what he said shook me to the core: Carlos was dying of cancer and he never told me, and all this time Alejandro was making a desperate attempt to find a way to save him using the prize money. I don't know what changed his mind, but he chose to help me when I was pinned under a boulder rather than leave me behind and steal the win for himself. But that was when shit hit the fan for me for the third time in my life when Alejandro's cousin Diego showed up and dropped the bombshell: Carlos had passed away just a few hours ago. After that Alejandro left with Diego and was out of the competition, and that night I ended up blowing up to Total Drama Jumbo Jet so McLean kicked me out of the game, leaving only Cody, Bridgette and Noah. After a long and hard race to Hawaii it was Cody and Bridgette in the final two, and in the end Cody won the million in the final challenge, securing the win. After that I promised on Carlos' grave that I would restore Alejandro's faith in himself, I've been working on that for about a year and a half now. But now it's only a matter of time before Mal returns so I decided to test a theory I developed from watching season 4 of Total Drama, in which we met one of the second generation contestants, an aura reader by the name of Dawn who figured out Mike's secret without having to be told. At the same time I met her mother, a master of the Mystic Arts by the name of Aurora. She revealed to me that my conflict with Mal was part of some sort of ancient prophecy amongst the Mystic Arts, wherein Mal has fire powers and I'm supposed to have hurricane powers, which according to Naruto logic means wind and lightning powers. Lucky me I'm such an anime addict. Anyway in order to awaken my powers Aurora sent me here to fight some wild and untamable fire dragon, kill it and bring back its head. I found it and I ended up awakening my wind powers and my lightning powers which made me too hot to handle and I'm trying to come off as egotistical or anything but it got away. I spent the next few weeks trying to track it down so I could kill it and finally go home. I miss my friends, I miss Cody and the others and… I miss Bridgette most of all. But unfortunately that's not how it was gonna turn out. While I was searching for the fire dragon I came across something that would shatter the spirits of most men, a path of death and destruction that ended up leading me all the way here into this cage where I met you." he looked over at the only company he had in the cage, that being a broken skeleton whose jaw broke off "Yeah I know, I've got one hell of an autobiography to write don't I? But since I've been stuck in here I've been able to do a hell of a lot of meditating on how to awaken my powers and I think I've got it down. See I remember from watching Avatar: the Last Airbender that Airbending is all about spiral movements, when you meet resistance you have to be able to switch directions in a fraction of a second. As for lightning, that's a little bit more complicated. There is energy all around us. The energy is both yin and yang; positive energy and negative energy. Only a select few firebenders can separate these energies. This creates an imbalance. The energy wants to restore balance and in a moment the positive and negative energy come crashing back together. You provide release and guidance, creating lightning. So how much longer do you think we're gonna be in here? I mean I've been secretly charging a blast of lightning to free me from these chains for like 2 hours, the ruler of this place has to try and question me at some point." then the bottom of the cage opened up and he was sent tumbling down just a few feet above the ground, still bound by chains "And apparently this is happening now." he heard a sinister chuckle "Oh if that's who I think it is then spending a week in a cage bound by chains."

Sure enough, before him sat what looked like a fire ogre sitting on a throne, his body radiating crimson flames as a sword of flames rested in his hand " **Adam, son of Ander, the earthling who holds in his grasp the power of the Eye of the Hurricane."**

"And you must be Urere, the ruler of Sphaera Ignis, son of… a bitch. Aurora told me I'd run into you eventually, but then again she also said that Metallu,

" **I cannot die, not until I fulfill my destiny and lay waste to this universe before I claim it as my own."**

"You know it's actually a good thing you mentioned that when you did, you see I've been having these terrible dreams ever since I've been here. It's always along the lines of the Earth going up in flames and falling into ruins, burned and charred corpses all over the place, and you happen to be at the center of all of them."

" **Then you have seen my destiny, my conquest of all of the 10 dimensions foretold throughout all of the realms and all of the cosmos-"**

"Wait hold that thought." he started spinning around by the chains "I'll be back around in a second, you know it's too bad since I felt like the two of us were really connecting there." he forced himself back around to face Urere "Okay so your conquest. Tell me a little bit about it, give me a quick walkthrough of what I should expect."

" **My time has come for your world, when my crown is reunited with the molten flames of my second Fire Lacrima I shall at last be restored to my full might. I shall tower over the tallest mountains and I shall bury my sword deep in the heart of your universe"**

"Wait a second, hold that thought again." he started swinging around again "I swear this isn't even me, it's just doing it by itself. Okay so let me see if I got this, you're going to put your crown into the flames of the universe's core and you're gonna somehow grow as big as a skyscraper?"

" **A mountain you fool."**

"Within the Earth's core? Yeah that does sound interesting, so where exactly is this so called crown of yours?"

" **This is my crown, it is the source of my power."** Urere pointed to the thing on the top of his head.

"Oh so that thing is a crown, truth be told I thought it was just a really big unibrow or some ugly crap like that."

" **It's a crown you imbecile."**

"My mistake, anyway from what you're telling me it sounds like all I have to do in order to stop you in your tracks is rip that thing off of your head."

" **Is that what you believe?"** Urere let out a malicious chuckle as he rose from his throne and stalked his way forward, dragging his sword grinding against the ground " **It is useless Son of Ander, for my conquest had already begun and you could never stop it."** he grabbed the chains holding Adam and glared at him dead in the eye " **You are alone child, there is only darkness for you and only death for your people. You are little more than the beginning of the end for Terra, for I already hold a great and terrible army and we shall conquer all that the cosmos has to offer. We shall go forth until every light has been extinguished. You are strong child, but I am beyond strength. I am the end of the universe, all shall suffer and all shall burn as they face my wrath."**

Despite the overwhelming glare, Adam showed no fear "Not gonna lie that comes off as pretty intense, to be honest seeing you grow to the size of a mountain and set fire to a planet would be one hell of a show. But that being sad, it looks like I'm gonna have to choose option B where I just force my way out of these chains, knock that ugly tiara unibrow off your head, kill you where you stand and leave that thing here to rot while I find the fire dragon, kill it, and bring its head with me back to Earth."

" **You have no hope of stopping my conquest, why would you dare to fight it?"**

"Because I follow no prophecy, I make my own destiny. **Raging Bolt!"** at that moment, a massive ball of lightning rained down from above, sending Urere stumbling back and shattering the chains binding Adam, freeing him and leaving him free to fight.

" **You have made a grave mistake Son of Ander."**

"Yeah well try and tell me something I haven't heard before, I've made a hell of a lot of grave mistakes in my time but it usually works out one way or another. Which reminds me, I've got one other trick up my sleeve." he floated up into the air, wind gathering in his right hand and lightning gathering in his left "I call these my Tornado Fist and my Thunder Fist, in other words you're gonna f*cking die." he looked over and saw a certain fire dragon lunge at him from the shadows of the cave, only for it to be held back by chains "Oh good, and it looks like I found my target too. _I don't have time to play around with these guys, I've gotta get that thing and get out of here or they'll follow me back to Earth.'_ so he started fighting off the fire demons and killing them as they attacked him, receiving a few burn marks across his skin and some bruises in the process, but he fended them off regardless "Now this is a technique I've been dreaming of for ages, straight from the Fairy Tail handbook **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Roaring Thunder!"** he quickly unleashed a blast of lightning to his right " **Tornado Fist!"** he unleashed a powerful blast of wind to his left, the combined force of both blasts taking out all of the fire demons surrounding him "So are you ready to fight me yourself or are you gonna keep sending the mindless ones after me?"

" **Very well, you shall fall by my blade Hurricane Warrior!"** Urere picked up his sword and attempted to turn Adam to ash with a massive blast of fire.

Using his wind powers to propel himself upwards, Adam unleashed another Roaring Thunder straight down on Urere's head, knocking his skull clean off "And stay down!" he looked around and noticed fire demons crawling down the walls in order to kill him "Well this clearly isn't gonna end well. Hey Aurora, if you're listening you might wanna get ready because I could really use a fast exit!" he received no reply "Aurora? Are you even listening?"

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As it turns out, Aurora had brought Alejandro to another room with various herbs and remedies, as well as a pit filled with crimson colored sand "Here we are."

"Why have you brought me here?" asked Alejandro "From what you have told me the prophecy of the Mystic Arts centers around Adam having supernatural powers does it not? There was no mention of me or anything in relation to me."

"I never said there was only one prophecy foretold amongst the Masters of the Mystic Arts." with that being said, Aurora pulled out a book from her robe and turned to a certain page "For many years it has been foretold that a man with great potential for great good and great evil, a pure soul tainted by the shame he feels for his past misdeeds, will rise from the ashes of his misdeeds and inherit the power of El Jaguar Carmesi, the Crimson Jaguar."

"...The Crimson Jaguar? But that was just a story my elder brother Carlos told me as a child, a legendary guardian of my family for generations."

"Carlos Burromuerto, I remember meeting him as if it were yesterday. When he first came to us he was as good of a man as always, yet at the time he was confused and struggling to find the answers he had been seeking. Answers to the most important questions in life such was what his purpose was, what the purpose of life was. With the permission of the Sorcerer Supreme I had taken him under my wing and he was revealed to be a brilliant student with a gift for the Mystic Arts." this caused Alejandro to freeze in place, his eyes wide with fascination.

"Mi hermano… you taught him?"

"Indeed I did. He spoke very highly of you and your potential, and how his greatest fear was for you to hold within you the same darkness as your brother Jose."

"...I see. What else did he tell you?"

"I believe that it would be best if he told you himself." she picked up a remedy "Please lay down on the sand."

"Very well." Alejandro did so and took off his shirt in the process "So what exactly is this supposed to do?"

"If you truly are destined to receive the power of the Jaguar Carmesi then this remedy shall take you to the Land of the Ancestors." she forced Alejandro to drink the remedy and began covering him in sand.

Alejandro's body began glowing with crimson energy as he was buried beneath the sand and darkness overwhelmed his vision.

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The scene in Sphaera Ignis was about the same, only a little bit more on the negative side of things.

Adam was still fighting off Urere's fire demons and firing blasts of wind and lightning left and right, respectively to the hand he was using for each one "You know anyone would think that with their master dead these things would stand down but no, they have to be noble and loyal and still try and kill the guy that killed their leader!"

Then shit hit the fan when the fire dragon broke free of its chains and started charging at him like a crazed bull.

"And that's my cue to drop the lightning, go full force on the wind and go mach speed and get the f*ck out of here!" so like that, Adam burst his way up and out of the cave into the smoldering skies of Sphaera Ignis "Aurora come on, I'm not kidding around here."

The fire dragon burst up from the cave and charged at Adam in a furious attempt to devour him whole.

Adam quickly forced his way out of the fire dragon's mouth and used a blast of wind to pin it to the ground "Stay. Good boy. Aurora I'm not trying to be impatient but I'm running short on options here!"

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Aurora looked up from burying Alejandro "Well now, he finished the task I had given him much faster than I had anticipated." she pulled a book from one of the nearby shelves "I suppose I had better open the portal before the fire dragon devours him." she started forming a portal as she chanted an incantation.

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By this point, Adam was flying across the skies of Sphaera Ignis at full speed using his wind powers, with the fire dragon hot on his heels and closing in fast "Come on come on, Aurora if you're gonna give me that dramatic exit and rescue then now would probably be the best time for you to do it!" and as if on cue the portal opened up and swallowed him whole, as well as swallowed the fire dragon halfway, leaving the lower half of its body on the ground."

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It was only a matter of seconds before Adam suddenly burst through the portal and skidded to stop on the ground "Finally, after all this time I'm back on Earth…"

"So I take it you succeeded in your quest?" Aurora inquired.

"Not exactly…" he pointed to where the fire dragon had ended up getting its head cut off by the portal closing, drenching the room in green and purple dragon brains and blood respectively "To be fair you said I had to kill it and bring its head back here."

"That I did." she snapped her fingers and cast a spell, and all of the guts and blood disappeared as if they were never there "While I had expected you to use your Cosmic Hurricane powers to slay the creature it was a very clever idea to use my portal to slay it."

"Yeah well I'm a little bit wiped from spending like 6 months in there. How long was it out here anyway?"

"Time passes differently from each of the realms, it was six months to you there but it was only a mere 3 hours here."

"...Good to know. So what are you gonna do with the dragon head?"

"In ancient times the first masters of the Mystic Arts would capture the dragons and harness their fangs in order for them to be made into weapons harder than any metal on Earth."

"For me to use I'm guessing, being the Hurricane Warrior and all?"

"Actually no, these are meant for the allies that you choose to bring into battle with you against your foe." she pointed to where Alejandro lay, buried by the crimson sand "Like you he must face a trial of his own, however, unlike you his trials lie within his own heart."

"And what will he get out of this?"

"If the power of the Crimson Jaguar accepts him as its master then he will be granted enhanced strength, speed, durability, agility, stamina, reflexes and self healing well beyond what any normal human being could achieve.

"Huh. Kind of like Black Panther or Captain America."

"For the time being yes, but once his true potential has been awakened he will have the ability to manipulate light energy to his whim, making him a force to be reckoned with.

"Nice. So going back to the weapons issue…"

"You seem eager."

"Hey regardless of being driven by vengeance I'm still a teenager. Sort of."

"...Very well, I suppose now is as good of a time as any to show this to you." she opened a portal in between her hands and revealed a long brown case "My master in the mystic arts, the Sorcerer Supreme, had entrusted this to me." she opened the case, revealing a silver colored metal axe-hammer "A weapon fit only for the weapon of destiny, meant to be of greater might than any other weapon this world could ever offer."

"Does it have a name?"

"My master had stated that it would only possess a name when it was blessed with one by the one who carries within him the Cosmic Hurricane Lacrima." she held it out to him "This weapon has been gifted to you by destiny, Adam Anderson."

Adam slowly lifted up the axe, wind circling around one end of the hammer and lightning gathering around the axe end "It's amazing, I can feel the power coursing through me like nothing I've ever felt before."

"What will you dub this weapon? Only when it has a title will its powers be unleashed to its fullest extent."

Adam started intently at the weapon in his hand "I dub thee… SHATTERSTORM!" and as if on cue, a massive blast of lightning rained down from the heavens, shattering the glass roof on the sanctum in the process, before it died down, causing him to cringe "Uh… sorry about that."

"No apologies necessary, a simple matter really." she fixed the damage with a simple snap of her fingers.

"Well that must be handy. So what's going on with Mike and the others?"

"My daughter is still searching through Michael's mind for the one known as Mal. As for the young lady Zoey… I must inform you that I had to erase her memories of the events that are transpiring here."

"...That's probably for the best, knowing Zoey she'd either get easily fooled by Mal or end up doing something really stupid. Most likely both. So where is she now?"

"She's asleep in your RV on the street outside."

"Good to know, thanks."

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 **(Land of the Ancestors)**

Alejandro found himself in what looked like the fields of Africa, images continuously flashing through his mind ' _Yes that's right… For all of my life I was always compared to Jose. My so called friends, my peers, even mother and father saw me as nothing more than the lesser compared to him. Carlos was the only person who ever saw me for who I was. He stood by my side as I grew up and he protected me, and how did I repay him? By dishonoring everything he taught me and doing so on international television, and making myself out to be nothing more than a disgrace to not only Carlos's teachings, but also to my family name and the blood that courses through my veins.'_

"Is something wrong?" a large jaguar with red fur leapt down from a large tree and morphed into a familiar figure with a green shirt, tan pants and boots "You seemed troubled mi hermanito."

Alejandro remained quiet for a moment, he immediately embraced him, tears brimming from his eyes "Carlos… mi hermano…" he wiped away the tears and got down on one knee in front of him with his head bowed "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

"Rise mi hermanito, you are a man now and you should not have to bow to me. You are my equal, nothing less."

"...Very well." he did so, albeit very reluctantly.

"What is the matter Jandro?"

"I am not ready Carlos, not yet."

"Not ready for the future? Have you not trained and studied your entire life for the day you would strike out on your own and become your own man? Have you not trained and studied, stood by my side every step of the way?"

"That is not what I'm talking about. I know it has been a year and a half as it is, but I am still not ready to be without you. Not for this fight."

"...I see, so Adam has told you about the demon that plagues him. A wise man once said that if a man does not prepare the people he loves for the day he departs from this world then he has failed as a man. Tell me, have I ever failed you?"

"Never, not once. Unfortunately I cannot say the same, not after all of the things I've done in my life. Please tell me mi hermano, how can I make things right? How can I make amends for my mistakes?"

"I once told you that every living being in existence has potential for great good and for great evil, what matters is how we choose to use that potential that matters the most. In your quest for redemption you will struggle greatly so what you must do is surround yourself with people whom you trust and trust you. You are a good man with a good heart, and it's hard for a good man to do the right thing in the best way you can. But I have faith that you will get there, you are my little brother after all."

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Alejandro bolted back to his feet back in the physical world, visibly shaken and disoriented from his experience "What… Where…"

"Please Alejandro, calm yourself." Aurora placed her hands on his head "Breathe, breathe, breathe…" she made him take several deep breaths until he calmed down "I take it you succeeded."

"I… I can feel it. The power coursing through me, it feels incredible."

"You're not gonna go power crazy are you?" asked Adam.

"Rest assured I may have committed many atrocities in my life but I am not one of the abominations who would abuse my newfound power. But that being said, I do wish to test my new abilities." he suddenly blitzed out of view.

Adam whipped around and stopped a knife hand attack to the back with his axe "Pretty impressive, I had a little bit of trouble following that. You're dozens of times stronger than you were before."

"The same can be said for you, my hand is still numb from when you stopped my attack. Your new weapon is a most impressive one, what do you call it?"

"I dubbed it Shatterstorm, nice right?"

"You've both grown in leaps and bounds in a very short amount of time." Aurora noted "I have done all I can for you, what you do with your newfound strength is up to you."

"And the two of us are undeniably grateful to you for everything that you've done to help us with this Aurora, but we still have one more order of business to take care of. The main reason why we came here actually."

"You still need to know when Mike's inner demon will resurface."

"That's right, are Mike and Dawn still at work with searching through his mind for the one they seek?"

"For now yes, but I doubt it will last very much longer."

"It's been hours though, is that concerning?" asked Alejandro.

"Quite the opposite actually, the longer it takes the longer you have before Mal resurfaces and your greatest challenge begins."

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The recesses of Mike's mind within a sinister looking tower.

Dawn slowly and calmly climbed up a long and circling staircase until she was met with a large metal door ' _He's in here… I can feel his aura as black as the night itself, but now the time has come to see this demon for myself.'_ she pushed open the doors and stepped inside.

Before her, bound by chains from every angle was a figure with the same outfit as Mike, a dark figure around his eyes, a spike portion of his hair hanging over his face and covering his left eye, his eyes shut and his body not moving an inch.

"You are not the one that I seek, where is the true demon taking possession of this mind and this entity?"

" _ **So you noticed."**_ sure enough, between her and Mal appeared a figure with no distinguishable figures aside from its cold, hate filled eyes, and a malice filled smirk plastered across its face in a condescending way " _ **So the Moon Child decides to come tottering in, it was only a matter of time before those pathetic peons sent came looking for me. They must really be in trouble if they had sent you of all people to do it in their place. They're just that pathetic and desperate aren't they?"**_

"You believe that you may control them through their fear of you as if they are nothing but weak willed frightened lambs who are destined to suffer your wrath but you underestimate them. When they come, and they will, they will come for you."

" _ **I will break free of these bonds, nothing is going to change that and then I will destroy the one that plagues us both. You cannot stop me."**_

"Perhaps not, but even now you overestimate yourself and underestimate them. There is no scenario in this situation in which you will emerge victorious. Yes you will break free and perhaps you may emerge victorious against Adam and his allies but that will always be on your head because even if Adam can't protect his loved ones then you can be very well sure he shall avenge them."

" _Is that right?"_ he finally opened his eyes and glared at her, black energy burning around his body " _ **Oh trust me, the one that's been plaguing me for more than 10,000 years is going to suffer. If you're smart then you will get out of here while you still can."**_ the chains that were binding Mal shattered and the shadowy figure lunged at her faster than she could react.

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Dawn snapped back to reality and collapsed on her hands and knees panting heavily "He… He is coming…"

Mike opened his eyes and helped Dawn to her feet just as Adam, Alejandro and Aurora entered the room "Are you okay? Did you see him? What did he do to you?"

Dawn held up a hand as a sign for him to calm down "He is in there, he's buried very deep within your mind but he is there and he is growing stronger buy the day."

"How long do we have until he resurfaces?" asked Adam.

"By my estimation, you have 6 months at the most left to prepare yourself."

"6 months. Good to know, thanks." he turned to Aurora and held out his hand "Thank you for all of your help."

"You're welcome." Aurora gladly shook it "If you ever require my assistance again then my door is always open, but for now I wish the three of you the best of luck on your quest."

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Hours passed and the long trip back to Ocean Falls had begun.

Alejandro was the one driving along the road "You seemed so possessive of this vehicle on the way here, I had never imagined you would actually let me drive."

Adam glanced back to where Mike and Zoey were sleeping on the couches in the back and went back to admiring the newly dubbed Shatterstorm "Well I've got my own thing to do with this bad boy and I trust you enough." he looked up and his eyes narrowed "So now we know when Mal is going to return, and he's growing stronger by the day."

"Perhaps, but so have we. You entrusted me by telling me your darkest secret and Mike had left this mission to you, and we're going to finish it together."

"Alejandro… thank you."

"No need for thanks mi amigo, I'm simply repaying a debt. So what is your plan from here on out?"

"...I'm worried about Carrie and Devin. I told you that they've been two of my closest friends since 7th grade but the thing is… I never told them about Mal."

"Are you serious?"

"Hey you understand how secretive I am, hell I didn't even tell Cody until after he got back from the first two seasons of Total Drama."

"So you've been keeping this a secret?"

"Yeah, I'm not proud of it but I have to in order to keep them safe."

"Perhaps but that does make you rather hypocritical since you once stated that amigos should not keep secrets from each other."

"...Son of a bitch I hate it when you're right. But that being said there are two or three other people I could probably afford to tell."

"Are they in that new race show?"

"It's Gwen and Noah and maybe DJ too, does that answer your question?"

"Yes, yes it does."

 **A/N:**

 **I normally despise writing out flashbacks in my fics but here I felt they were necessary in order to further explore Adam's backstory, his past and his friendship with Devin and Carrie and his bond with Carlos.**

 **Those scenes with Adam fighting Urere (Latin for Burn) and talking about the supposed end of the universe were inspired by scenes from Thor: Ragnarok. I figured that since I was already borrowing stuff from Doctor Strange it wouldn't hurt to add in more stuff. As for the axe hammer I had dubbed Shatterstorm, inspired by Stormbreaker from Avengers: Infinity War but I didn't want to use the exact same name. Oh, and that last bit of dialogue from Urere before Adam broke out of his chains was based on the Lich's dialogue from the Adventure Time episode Escape from the Citadel.**

 **About the remedy mixed to let Alejandro visit the Land of the Ancestors, that's all inspired by the scenes in Black Panther. I was gonna give him elemental powers of his own but I decided that even in this fic that was a step too far, so I decided to just have the remedy bring the user to peak physical condition instead, kind of like how Captain America and Black Panther are. Plus I wanted to give Alejandro some closure with his older brother after everything that had happened.**

 **That scene with Dawn and Mal (or rather the shadowy figure speaking for Mal) is a mix of ideas from the Legend of Korra episode Beyond the Wilds (where Korra confronts Zaheer in prison) and the scene in the Avengers 2012 movie where Iron Man threatens Loki.**


	4. The War for Dimension X

**(Takes place between during chapters 11-12 of the Ridonculous Underdogs)**

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" _Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elementals. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the Wind and Lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take both their powers for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallium was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see that Metallum would fall for his betrayal. Until the day comes when Metallum is slain the cycle will continue and if that day never comes, the true spirit of the Hurricane will be lost forever to the memory of time."_

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Adam bolted up, sweat dripping down his face ' _Wow, out of all of the dreams I've had not centered around Mal that one is probably the most unnerving even after I find out the truth of it all.'_

"Another nightmare about your foe?"

Adam looked up and found Alejandro sitting "And just how long have you been watching me sleep?"

"Mike and Zoey took the RV and departed for a weekend away in Niagara Falls, they dropped us off here and I brought you into your apartment. That was about an hour ago."

"I see. As for the dream, it wasn't about Mal. Not this one, it was just… really unsettling. You think it means something?"

"Perhaps, but right now I suppose only time will tell. So what do you intend to do now?"

"Well to be honest, I've only got a rough estimate as it is. Right now I'm just thinking of meeting up with Zeke, ordering a pizza and watching Bridgette's surfing tournament on TV."

"Unfortunately that will have to wait."

Adam jumped when he found Aurora sitting at the counter drinking a cup of coffee "And just how long have the two of you been here?"

"About 20 minutes. Alejandro was kind enough to let us in, I decided that my business with the two of you could wait until you had awaken. After all, spending as much time as you did combatting Urere and his forces to Sphaera Ignis had drained you significantly. But I'm afraid I need your help with a certain task, you and Alejandro both."

"Not that we're not willing Aurora but it's only been 3 days, what could possibly have happened to you in that time?"

"It's not a matter of what has happened to me, but to an ancient ally of the order of the Masters of the Mystic Arts for thousands upon thousands of nextons, presiding in one of the 10 Dimensions."

"10 dimensions? Wait a second, does that mean…"

"Correct Adam, we must aid the High Council of… the Utrom."

"...Oh my god, I think I just peed a little. Did I just say that out loud?"

"Yes, yes you did."

"So does this mean that… the Utrom, as in the Utrom from the Turtles…"

"They shall be present as well."

"...You know it's a good thing Cody isn't here or he'd have a heart attack."

"You say that as it you are right now." Alejandro pointed out.

"To be honest, I kind of am. So why are we going to Dimension X exactly?"

"Because the Utrom are under threat by the Kraang invading while the Turtles are present to discuss about the Black Hole Generator known as the Heart of Darkness and the locations of the pieces. Using a spell I shall send us back to when the Turtles first arrive at the main base of the council, before the forces of the Kraang attack." with her eyes glowing a shade of gold she projected a portal, revealing a pink colored atmosphere.

"Hold on a second." Adam turned to Alejandro "So what now? You realize that this will be dangerous."

"Perhaps, but with you what is not dangerous?" Alejandro gripped Adam's shoulder "You saved my from my own darkness and inner demons, and you gave me a chance to redeem myself. You have my word, I will follow you into whatever danger you may encounter. I am sworn to by my code of honor."

"Good enough for me. Now let's go, we've got a dimension to save!" and with that he jumped into the portal, with Alejandro right behind him and Aurora following a mere moment after that, the portal closing after her.

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The skies of Dimension X were pink, wigged out and very unorthodox.

At least in Alejandro's opinion "I can see literally nothing but the most unorthodox phenomenon in this realm."

Adam, on the other hand, was nearly drooling "It's so beautiful…" he was promptly slapped on the back of his head by Alejandro.

"Is that better?"

"Much actually, thank you. But being high on the nostalgia aside, this place looks absolutely incredible. I mean the scatterpillar, the little squeeble guys that produce green goo that you can apparently eat." he picked up one of them and stuffed them in his pocket "That I will most definitely not eat. I mean even the gigantic Kraathatrogon coming towards us. Oh yeah that reminds me." he threw Shatterstorm at the Kraathatrogon, slicing it in two before it returned to his hand "God I love this thing."

"As you should, especially here." Aurora "This dimension is as dangerous as it is beautiful, you must keep on your guard at all times."

"I always do." they started walking "Hey how come we can breath in here without any kind of space helmets?"

"Oh that's because of the Mystic Wristbands you and Alejandro wear, they permeate an invisible suit of armor of sorts that keeps in your oxygen which allows you to breathe. It also controls your body temperature and adjusts to various different climates."

"Oh. That's pretty cool."

"Indeed but we must hurry, the sooner we locate the Utrom Council the sooner we can warn them about the Kraang attack." and the three of them went on their way, unaware of a Kraang spy drone watching them from afar.

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A half hour of searching passed.

Alejandro suddenly stopped the others on the edge of one of the floating islands "That's enough, our travelling is at an end. We've arrived."

"I don't see anything in front of us." Adam pointed out.

"That mi amigo is the idea." Alejandro picked up a nearby rock and threw it forward, revealing a cloaking shield "As you can see, the Utroms clearly believe in hiding in plain sight. Now come, I believe we should hurry." and he leapt into the force field.

Adam followed after with with Aurora right behind, and found himself in the secret fortress of the Utrom High Council "Holy crap, now this is what I call a hideout. If only my 14 year old self could see me now." this was followed by them being surrounded by Utrom drones pointing blasters at them.

"Even now?"

"Oh yeah, especially now. You've gotta give it to the Utroms, their droids definitely look a lot better than the Kraang's."

That was when Bishop showed up with a bazooka resting on his shoulder "Who are you? How did you find our secret base? And why did you throw a rock at my head? Seriously, repairing this suit is not easy."

This was when Aurora stepped forward "It's been quite some time Bishop, it's good to see you as always." she held out her hand."

Bishop accepted as they did a secret Utrom handshake "Master Aurora, excellent to see you as always. What brings you here?"

"I have brought you two noble warriors who have earned names for themselves and an audience with the full Utrom Council. One has obtained the power of the Crimson Jaguar, a power considered legendary by the Burromuerto bloodline on the planet known as Earth in the 8th dimension. The other is the warrior that the Masters of the Mystic arts have been seeking for centuries."

"Anything for you Aurora, this way. Also, Professor Honeycutt and the warriors of Earth of the 7th dimension known as the Turtles." this elected a near squeal from Adam.

"Very well then, I know that I've been wishing to speak to the Professor about some matters as well."

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It wasn't long before the group had reached the insides of the Utrom High Council's Headquarters, and were being led down a high tech looking hallway.

Adam observed their surroundings as they made their way "Man if my 12 year old self could see me now."

"You said that already." Alejandro pointed out.

"So what's your point?"

"Quiet." Aurora shut them up "We're here."

Sure enough, Bishop stood in the room in front of them with the Utrom Council, as well as some other figures "Professor Zayton Honeycutt and the Turtles from Earth of Dimension 7, Mystic Arts master Aurora and warriors Adam and Alejandro of Dimension 9, allow me to present to all of you the sacred high council of the Utrom- Pawn, Rook and Queen."

Adam found himself breathing heavy as he grabbed Alejandro by the shoulders "Dude it's them, it's really them… You might have to slap me."

Alejandro smacked him on the back of the head "Better?"

"Much actually, thank you."

Michelangelo on the other hand was freaked out at the sight of the Utrom Council "Woah dude, they look just like Irma and Miss Campbell." he was promptly shut by by Raphael through a smack upside the head.

Queen took her seat, with everyone else doing the same "The Council acknowledges the Professor and the Turtles, and the Master Aurora and her companions are welcomed as observants over this discussion."

Fugitoid took his seat along with the Turtles "Utrom High Council these Turtles are the protectors of the planet Earth of dimension 7, they have fought and defeated the Kraang time and time again and are worthy of your help."

"The Utrom are already aware of the Turtles and all of the good they have done for the planet Earth of Dimension 7."

"So why the hell didn't you help us before?" asked Raphael.

"Because Earthlings cannot always be trusted." Rook told him "Regardless of the dimension, you are an irrational species." this earned dirty looks from Adam and Alejandro, only for them to be called off by Aurora "And still despite this, you have the right to know the truth about the history of the Utrom." she displayed a holographic projection of their history "For several millions of nextons the Utrom all had a variety of individual personalities, that is until one nexton in which an Utrom scientist by the name of Kraang had discovered the mutagen of the Kraathatrogon worm. Kraang Prime was brought into being and became deranged in the process, he used his horrible psychic powers to overcome millions of Utrom throughout Dimension X and turned them into slave copies of himself under his control, and so the Kraang were born. There were also many Utroms who had resisted Prime's control over them, but now less than 100 still exist."

"What happened to your race is an unfortunate tragedy, but perhaps with your help we can avoid another one." Fugitoid told them.

Donatello nodded "We were able to get one of the pieces of the Black Hole Generator but we need to find the others, it's the only way for us to be able to save the Earth."

Now that got a reaction out of Queen "You were actually able to locate one of the pieces of the Heart of Darkness?"

" **No, n-n-n-no-no!"** Pawn, being the French Utrom with a moustache for whatever reason, started short circuiting and fell to the ground.

"No being should hold such power." Rook stated firmly "We took pains to hide the pieces of the Black Hole Generator in the safest parts of the galaxy."

"Safest?" Leonardo let out a scoff "The first piece that we found corrupted the entire race of Aeons!" that got a number of shocked reactions out of the Utrom High Council.

Fugitoid was quick to get things back on track "Utrom please, I have a plan to destroy the Black Hole Generator once and for all."

" **Impossible!"** Pawn protested " **Zee Heart of Darkness cannot be destroyed!"**

"Utrom come, we must discuss this." Bishop led the other three Utrom to the other side of the room to discuss the matter in semi privacy.

Leonardo looked over at Adam and the others "Hey Fugitoid what's with them, are they members of the council too?"

"As a matter of fact Leonardo, no they are not." Fugitoid told him "The female happens to be a dear friend of mine. Oh Aurora I'm terribly sorry for ignoring you, it's so great see you old friend." he held out his hand.

Aurora did the Utrom handshake with him "A pleasure to see you again as always Professor Honeycutt, despite your strange robotic body and very large head."

"Thank you. I think. I had previously believe that you had made a vow to never leave the Earth of your dimension regardless of the threat of the Triceratons."

"I had, but circumstances have changed and have forced me to come here. I have found the two warriors capable of ending the war with the Cosmic Elementals."

"You have? That is truly superb, where are they?"

"Right here." she pointed to where Adam and Alejandro were standing behind her "Professor Honeycutt and noble Turtle warriors, allow me to introduce-"

"Holy chalupa!" Michelangelo immediately rushed over to them "I recognize the two of you guys, you're Adam and Alejandro from Total Drama!"

Adam blinked "You watch the show?"

"Heck yeah, one of the best shows of all time next to Crognard!" he turned to Alejandro and kicked him in the gut "That's for what you did to Duncan and Courtney! And to everyone else in that season!"

"Hey calm down big guy." Adam helped Alejandro to his feet "Yeah I know he f*cked up a lot during Total Drama World Tour but he's making up for it one step at a time. Plus his older brother was someone very dear to me so I owe it to look after him, besides he and I have a mutual pact going. I have a terrible enemy I need to vanquish, so long as Alejandro helps me on my quest I'll help him in his quest to redeem himself."

"Tough dude huh?"

"He's the reason that I need this." he pointed with a thumb to where Shatterstorm was strapped onto his back "Yeah I know, awesome right?"

"For reals yo, that thing is so cool! In a heavy hitter kind of way."

"Yeah well it's got kickass wind and lightning powers though."

"Aw man I want a lightning axe, yo Donnie can you hook a turtle up?"

"No." was all Donnie said.

"Aw man."

"Oh yeah that reminds me." Adam turned over to Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello "I can't tell you guys how much of an honor it is to meet you."

"So you know about us?" asked Leonardo.

"Well in my dimension you guys are a cartoon series but yeah."

"...O.M.G!" Michelangelo nearly exploded "In our world you guys are a cartoon, and the best thing to ever come from Canada!"

"Aside from the spawn of Satan that is Chris McLean."

"Yeah, so he's in jail after season 4 ended right?"

"Yep and Total Drama is on a hiatus, so now a new show is taking the world by storm: the Ridonculous Race."

"Yeah boy no kidding, I'm calling for the Artists to win."

"Dude screw that, I spent the last month before the race started coaching Devin to make sure the Best Friends would win. Either them or the Bromigos, I'm just gonna go ahead and call it now that those two teams are in the finals together."

"Works for me. So what's the deal with Eelejandro back there?"

"That name isn't original, Noah came up with it." this was met with a groan "Anyway he's not as bad of a guy as he made himself look on the show during season 3, he just… made a lot of mistakes in a desperate attempt to save someone we both care about."

"Who was it?"

"His older brother Carlos, truth be told he actually passed away from a disease during the challenge back in Drumheller."

"Wait so that's why he left out of the blue?"

"Yep."

"Woah, just… woah."

"Wait is that show where the guy with the birthday cake blew up the plane in front of that tiki ceremony or whatever?" asked Raphael.

"Yep. Adam is that guy."

"I understood so little about that."

"Hello dude, I told you that you've gotta watch every episode before then for the sake of the continuity! This is basic stuff!"

"And not just every episode of the season." Adam told him "You've gotta watch every single episode starting from season 1, Total Drama Island all the way to Total Drama World Tour."

"Yeah boy!" they high fived without looking at each other, like bosses.

Alejandro just slapped his face "Ay dios mio."

"You've got one of those two huh?" Raphael guessed.

"You have no idea mi amigo, you have no idea."

This was when Queen and the rest of the Utrom High Council ended their discussion "The high council has reached a decision."

"Which is?" asked the Fugitoid.

"We are officially opening discussions on the topic of helping you with your goal to locate the other two pieces of the Heart of Darkness, the debate shall last for 100 nextons."

"...WHAT?!" Raphael almost immediately exploded "But we need your help now, not 100 whatever the hell a nexton is from now!"

Alejandro held out a hand "Great and noble Utrom High Council, please reconsider this course of action. These noble creatures have come from a future period in time, the Triceratons are able to find all of the pieces of the Heart of Darkness and destroy the Earth. They witnessed this tragedy occur with their very own eyes, and now you are the only ones who can help them save their world. I may not have room to speak but I know that you would not let innocent lives be sacrificed would you? On their behalf I beg of you, please help them in their quest."

"...Very well then, perhaps we can-" Queen was cut off by a large number of portals appearing throughout the room "Oh no."

"Alejandro get ready." Adam grabbed Shatterstorm off of his back "This is officially one of the most hype days of my entire life."

And then Kraang Subprime showed up with a number of Kraang droids "Well what do you, the long hidden base of the Utrom rebellion is revealed to us by none other than those miserable Turtles and the Master of the Mystic Arts herself! How awesome has Kraang Subprime's day become? FIRE!" he had the Kraang droids start firing like a pack of wild animals, turning the room into a war zone.

"Yeah come on boy, bring it dog!" with several savage yells, Michelangelo proceeded to decapitate several Kraang droids.

"Enough with the savage yells!" Raphael barked.

"Hey lay off of the yell until you try it!" Adam threw Shatterstorm forward and started cutting swaths through the Kraang droids as fast as they kept coming ' _I can't use any of my new wind or lightning powers or it'll bring the whole place down, I'll have to go on the down low for the time being and wait it out."_

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"Well hey there Queeny!" Kraang Subprime had made his way over to queen and aimed a blaster at her face.

"I think not you foul creature!" Alejandro ripped Kraang Subprime's arm cannon and flipped him over the table "Mi hermano y mi abuelo both said that of one has power the it should be used to protect, not to destroy!"

"Oh great, another dead donkey moron. The last ones that I saw were those losers like 75 nextons ago, that old man and the little brat. The little one got away but I gutted the old man like a dirty Kraathatrogon!"

"How dare you steal my body!" Rook got his attention "She was my creation and you would dare use her for such nefarious purposes!" she leapt down to attack him.

Kraang Subprime grabbed her by the face before she could reach him "Aw boo freaking hoo, my heart bleeds for ya. NOT!" he threw her into Bishop as he attempted to attack and then proceeded to fry Queen's Miss Campbell suit, forcing her out of the suit "Hey there your Majesty."

"Let me go Subprime!" Queen demanded.

"Yeah let me think about that… nope!" he opened a portal "See ya later ya morons, I'll be taking a parting gift!" he shot a look over at Alejandro "I'll be back to skin you like I did the old man and add him to my collection!" and he retreated through the portal.

"You will not escape!" Alejandro chased after Kraang Subprime through the portal, with Raphael and Michelangelo following right behind him before the portal closed.

"NO!" Leonardo found too late that he couldn't follow them "Well that's just great, now what do we do?"

"The way I see it Leonardo, there's only one thing that we actually can do." Adam told him "We have to get the Utrom off of their lazy asses and launch an all out assault."

"Well maybe but what about Raph and Mikey?"

"Calm down, Alejandro is with them keep in mind. And before you say anything else let me say this, I wouldn't have brought him here if I didn't trust him."

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Kraang Subprime and his forces took Queen to a hidden Kraang base somewhere in Dimension X, his expression still as smug as ever "I think you're really gonna like your accommodations while you're here Queen, and by like I mean TOTALLY HATE!"

What he had failed to notice was Michelangelo, Raphael and Alejandro stumble out of the portal and for Michelangelo to hide them around a corner "Okay, I think they're gone."

"Mi agradecimientos." Alejandro told him "Come, we must make haste but do be sure to stay close."

"Yeah sure, whatever the heck you said." they made their way down the hall a short distance, only to find no sign of Kraang Subprime or anyone with him.

Raphael quickly grew frustrated with this "You've gotta be kidding me, how the hell did we lose them already?!"

" _I would know such fury anywhere, Raphael is that you?"_ a figure pressed her face against the window of a Kraang cell, almost immediately sending Raphael into his hysterical love struck mode.

"Mona… Lisa?" almost immediately Raphael started stabbing the control panel in a desperate attempt to open the door.

Alejandro quickly covered his mouth "You must lower your voice or we will surely be discovered!"

"Save it!" Raphael finally managed to open the door "Mona Lisa what are you doing here? I didn't think I was ever gonna see you again."

"My dear Raphael, I have missed you as well." Mona Lisa picked him up in her arms and immediately kissed him, which he melted into.

"Hey come on guys, we don't have time for that kissy face crud!" Michelangelo was quick to break them up "We came here on a super important mission to rescue the Utrom Queen remember?"

"The Utrom Queen?" Sal Commander got up on his face about it "The Utrom and the Kraang are one in the same."

Mona Lisa nodded "We thought that they could be trusted and would be valuable allies against the Triceratons but we found out the hard way."

Alejandro quickly pushed all of them into the cell and shut the door right before a large number of Kraang droids passed by them "I can assure you commander the Utrom and the Kraang are not the same, after all the Kraang are enemies of the Turtles whereas the Utrom consider them to be allies."

Michelangelo nodded "Yeah you heard the Burromuerto dude, we only work with the good guys to deal with guys like the Kraang."

"Good Kraang?" Sal Commander snarled "You expect us to believe in such a thing? We tried to trust the Kraang and it landed us in their dungeon."

Mona Lisa nodded "Commander G'Throkka speaks the truth, after all of this how could we trust the Utrom?"

"Because we do." Raphael told her "I was really skeptical of these guys at first too Mona but these Utrom… they helped us.

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At the same time, Kraang Subprime was in the middle of mocking Queen in a very annoying fashion "You pathetic Utrom are nearly extinct while we Kraang are totally awesome, have I mentioned that your tiara is totally lame and not awesome? Because that's exactly what it is!"

Queen continued to remain defiant "My forces are on their way as we speak ready to rescue me and destroy your SubCommand Center."

"Oh you just got real serious didn't ya? Well whatever, like we're scared of a few Utrom and a bunch of other weaklings." he turned to the Kraang on lookout "You idiots stay here and keep on the lookout.

" **Affirmative Kraang Subprime, that which is called the lookout Kraang will stay."**

"...Yeah okay. Now then Queenie, you're gonna go right ahead and spill all of your dirty little Utrom secrets. You got that?"

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The Utrom base was in semi ruins as Rook, Pawn and Bishop were discussing their course of action due to the recent events "I move to instate Parliamentary procedure 43-296."

"Alright enough of that crap." Adam finally reached his limit "No more debate and no more of that discussion crap, we need to take action and I'm doing it with or without your help." he pulled Shatterstorm off of his back "So are with me or not?"

"I will admit Son of Ander, your resolve is commendable." Bishop noted.

"Why does everyone call me that?"

"However there is no need for a discussion, Parliamentary Procedure 43-296 is the protocol for all out war. Utrom droids, prepare for battle!" he summoned several dozen droids piloted by free thinking Utrom.

"Huh. 8/10 for style."

Leonardo was particularly more pumped "Now we're talking, oh hell yeah! So where are the rest of them?"

"...Ahem." Bishop let out an awkward cough.

"So do you think now would be a good time for you to tell us where the other two pieces of the Black Hole Generator are located, just to be on the safe side."

"Fight by our side, survive this siege and we shall see."

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Alejandro looked over at Sal Commander and Mona Lisa "So tell me honorable Salamandrians, will you aid us in our quest to save the Utrom Queen?"

"As I said before, we will not aid the Kraang." Sal Commander told him.

"And as I have stated before the Utrom are not the same as the Kraang, regardless of whether or not you trust me at the very least I know that you trust the Turtles."

Raphael nodded "You heard the Burromuerto guy, Mona Lisa I would never do anything to hurt you and you know that."

"...Yes Raphael, I do know that." Mona Lisa turned over towards Sal Commander "I doubted them once Commander even when you had insisted otherwise, but now I truste Raphael and his comrades with my life."

Michelangelo looked over towards Sal Commander and received a sigh "Yeah boy, that be how we do- Oh for crying out loud what is it with you two? Alejandro you mind?"

"Not at all." Alejandro used one hand to cover Michelangelo's face to cover Raphael and Mona Lisa kissing in front of them "Ay dios mio, at least Adam is not so bold in his approach and that is saying something."

"You have my sympathy." Sal Commander turned to face "Tell me, Raphael said that you were known by the name of Burromuerto did he not?"

"He did, you know of my family?"

"...Only due to one that I had encountered several years ago. Santiago Burromuerto."

"You knew him? He was my grandfather, he had passed away nearly 10 years ago. He and I were very close."

"I see, so then the young man who was travelling with him, Carlos I believe his name was, was your brother. We had crossed paths in the aftermath a fierce battle I had fought against a criminal from my home world, a bounty hunter and escaped convict by the name of K'Vathrak. He had emerged victorious, he took my eye and left me to perish by the wounds he had inflicted upon me. Your grandfather, a gifted master of what he had referred to as the Mystic Arts, was on a journey with your brother teaching him what he knew. In an act of kindness rare in the area of the universe where my home planet resides, he saved my life, nursed me back to health and aided me in restoring my strength. However, that did not last for very long, for not long after we were attacked by a Kraang, or more specifically a defector from the Utrom to the Kraang. He is known as Kraang Subprime, and he had come to hunt down Santiago, for he had deemed him a threat to the Kraang. Bound by my code of honor to repay the debt I now owed him, I aided Santiago in his battle and in the end we claimed victory. Kraang Subprime had lost an eye in that battle but he refused to accept his defeat, and in an act of dishonor he attempted to attack Carlos from behind as an act of pure spite. However, Santiago… He pushed the boy out of the way to protect him from the attack but alas, he did not survive as a result. Before he perished I made a vow to him, I swore that I would repay his kindness to me and so with his dying breath he asked me to protect his grandchild, the one that would inherit his gift: the wisdom and power of the Crimson Jaguar. I can sense it within you young one, you have inherited his gift. You have the full support of the honorable warriors of Salamandria and I shall aid you however I can."

"...I see." Alejandro turned away and gripped the bull necklace he wore tightly ' _Abuelo, I will vanquish that traitorous Kraang scoundrel and avenge you. This I swear.'_

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Kraang Subprime go up in Queen's face "Alright enough fun and games Queen, now you're gonna tell me everything you know about the Black Hole Generator!"

"Never, I will never tell you!" Queen remained defiant.

"Well good, now we get to go to my favorite part of the interrogation: the Torture!"

"Booyakasha!" that was when Savage Michelangelo kicked him and his cover chair away while Raphael and Alejandro managed do disarm the Kraang droids.

Sal Commander made a break to go after Queen "I can't believe I'm saving a Kraang, and somehow I just know that this isn't the last time I'm going to be saying that."

Alejandro cornered Kraang Subprime and stopped him from getting away "You have been outnumbered Kraang Subprime, and now you shall face the wrath of the Burruomuerto bloodline."

"Oh no look at me, you've got me so scared that I'm shaking in my hover pod!" his tone filled with sarcasm, Kraang Subprime unleashed a Dracotroid "Not really morons cause guess what, I've got me a Dracotroid!"

"Not for long!" Alejandro grabbed onto the neck of one of the heads of the Dracotroid while the others scattered, with Sal Commander and Mona Lisa attempting to blast it from opposite sides.

"Back off bra, I've got this!" Michelangelo let out a loud shriek, causing the Dracotroid to lose its grip on Raphael and Mona Lisa, but throwing Alejandro off of it in the process.

Kraang Subprime smirked maliciously "You know I've always wanted to watch a turtle get eaten by a Dracotroid, but even more I wanna crush one of those Dead Donkey guys underneath my tentacle!" that is until he was thrown aside along with the Dracotroid by a powerful energy blast, which prompted the others to look out the new whole in the wall.

As it turns out Adam had arrived, Shatterstorm in hand, with Leonardo, Donatello, the Utrom Droids and the Utrom High Council in full force "You guys need some help? I brought in the cavalry!"

"Yeah boy!" Michelangelo pumped a fist "Let this be a lesson Sal Commander: You can always trust a turtle, the cast of Total Drama, and the good Kraang to pull through for you when it really counts."

"Alright enough of this crap, Dracotroid do what you do best!" Kraang Subprime had the Dracotroid fire two simultaneous energy blasts from each head, blowing Alejandro and the others out of the wall of the building.

"Hang on Mona Lisa, I've got you!" Raphael used a grapple worm to catch Mona Lisa and lower them both to the ground, with Michelangelo lowering Sal Commander and the Utrom Queen safely to the ground amongst the other Utrom Droids just as more Kraang Droids and Biotroids emerged to join the fight.

"I can't believe I'm beating the crap out of Kraang droids! It's official, this is the greatest day of my life!" Adam charged forward, the blade of Shatterstorm crackling with lightning as he slammed the blade down onto the ground, taking out several dozen Kraang Droids and Biotroids in the process "And that be how we do it in my town!"

"Oh you said it man! Booyakasha!" Michelangelo took out three more Kraang Droids at once with a grapple worm "Hey you wanna say it?"

"Can I?"

"Go for it dude!"

"Well then… BOOYAKASHA!" with a mighty roar, Adam threw Shatterstorm high into the air and it rained down a massive blast of lightning that cut the number of Kraang Droids left in the battle in half, some of them literally.

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Kraang Subprime looked down on the carnage from above "This has gotta be the most pathetic sight I've ever seen."

"And it shall also be your last!" Alejandro leapt up to attack him from the side "I have been told all about your fall from grace, it truly is pitiful Kraang Subprime. Or should I say, Knight of the Utrom High Council?" he dealt a few swift kicks to the Irma bot's face.

"That name means nothing to me, I am now Kraang Subprime of the Kraang Hive Mind you weak little punk!" Kraang Subprime knocked Alejandro off of the tower towards his apparent death.

However, Alejandro quickly rebounded, now with Bishop's bazooka in hand, and shot the Irma head off of his body "You betrayed the Utrom, you tried to kill my brother, you succeeded in killing my grandfather!"

"Bring it on runt!" the two of them charged towards each other.

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Adam ducked behind a large Utrom energy cannon as Shatterstorm continued cutting down Kraang Droids left and right "Man this is the most epic day of my life!" he heard his phone ringing and pulled it out "What the f*ck, I get bars here?" he answered it "This is Adam but now is really not a good time- Oh hey Cody what's up? Yeah sorry I'm not back home right now, I had something to take care of so I left a few hours ago. So how did the tour go? Oh so you ran into Gwen and that guy from her art school? Yeah Kevin, I only met the guy once but I like his style and that's not something I can say about many people. So you and Gwen?" he nearly toppled over in disbelief at what he heard "No way are you kidding? Way to go man that's awesome, and the love thing but especially that! Yeah we'll talk when I get back, alright see you then." he hung up and looked up from behind the energy cannon "Hey Alejandro get this, Cody called me and said that he and Gwen finally went all the way! My little brother just got laid… before I did." he let out a yelp and ducked behind the cannon again to avoid fire from a few Kraang Droids before they were cut down by Shatterstorm "Yeah it's official, this is the best day of my life!"

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Raphael found himself wrestling with the Dracotroid on one of its heads and found Mona Lisa wrestling the other one "Looks like you've learned a thing or two since the last time I saw you!"

"Yes, I've been honing my skills greatly since then." Mona Lisa climbed further up the neck of the Dracotroid to meet Raphael eye to eye "I could teach some of them to you one on one if you like."

"I would love that!" he got thrown back off of the Dracotroid's neck and used his sais to hold himself onto the wing "Don't worry, I'm good! I'm not dead yet!" and then he started getting shot at by flying Kraang Droids "Scratch that!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Another battle continued in earnest.

Alejandro used Bishop's bazooka to push back an attack from Kraang Subprime's plasma saw blades "You were once seen as a great hero to the Utrom, they saw you as a true brother! Not only that but you dared to attack my family, and for that you will play!"

"Oh for the love of Kraang, cry me a river will ya?" Kraang Subprime used his plasma saw blades to slash Alejandro across his chest, leaving a deep gash releasing a large amount of blood and pushing him back towards the edge of the floating island "Look man you've got the same problem as all of the other morons in the universe, everyone hates having to swear complete subservience to Kraang Prime until they at least try it. It's the same with those blowhards from the Masters of the Mystic Arts… Oh wait, yeah I thought you looked familiar, you must be related to the Burromuerto blowhards like that old man and the handsome wise one. What was his name? Oh yeah, Carlos. Heard he croaked awhile back, news like that was so big that it hit all of the 10 dimensions and everyone was mourning him. Well everyone except for me, I held an awesome fiesta!"

"You dare… You dare insult the memory of mi hermano?!" Alejandro ripped a Kraang crystal out of the ground and stuck in one of Kraang Subprime's joints "For your crimes against my family, your punishment is death!" and as the crystal exploded he fell to one knee and clutched his wound.

Leonardo suddenly swung his way over "Hey are you alright Alejandro? Sorry I took so long to get here, I had to stop Raph and Mona Lisa from getting shot down by those flying Kraang Droids."

"I am well Leonardo, I appreciate your concern but it is not necessary. Kraang Subprime has finally been defeated and mi abuelo has been avenged."

"Yeah but you're hurt, we've gotta get that wound treated fast."

"I will survive, as I said you needn't worry about me." he was cut of by an increasingly annoying evil laugh "Ay dios mio."

Sure enough, Kraang Subprime rose back up on top of a Kraang Stealth Ship being backed up by several Kraang Droids "So what if I'm a traitor or a murderer or any of that crap? At least I'm not some pretty boy loser with a stupid angry face!"

"Yeah well at least he's not about to be hacked to bits!" a voice rang through the air.

Alejandro looked over and found Adam controlling Shatterstorm and having it fly towards him, and he quickly caught it in his hand "What do you…"

"Yeah Sal Commander told me everything, this is your fight and you've gotta be the one to finish it."

"Adam… I understand." he gripped the axe firmly in one hand "And now Kraang Subprime, this ends!" he charged forward.

Kraang Subprime only had enough time to let out a groan "Oh give me a Kraanging break would ya?"

"VIVA EL BURROMUERTO!" that is before Alejandro used Shatterstorm to cleave both Kraang Subprime's Irmabot and the Kraang Stealth Ship down the middle, resulting in an absolutely MASSIVE explosion that destroyed the Kraang Prison Tower.

" **Kraang, initiate that which is known as RETREAT!"** the Kraang soon realized that the battle was lost and attempted to retreat.

That is, before Adam used Shatterstorm to cut down the Kraang Stealth Ships, leaving them with no way to escape, leaving them to be captured "And that's how we do things in my town mother f*ckers!"

"Profanity aside, you did well." Aurora approached him with Alejandro's injured and now unconscious form slung over her shoulder "Both of you did."

"Tell me something Aurora, you knew about Alejandro's grandfather and Kraang Subprime didn't you?"

"I did, after all he was my main teacher in the Mystic Arts. I had grieved when he was slain and I felt that teaching his son Carlos was the best way that I could honor his memory and repay all that he had done for me, the same with helping Alejandro to receive the power of the Crimson Jaguar."

"I see. So how's the champ doing right now?"

"Physically his wound will leave a small scar, but psychologically his spirit has taken a great leap in its healing process. However he will not be able to complete it all on his own, you must aid him in that quest."

"I will, you have my word."

"Hey guys."

Adam looked over to see the Turtles approaching them "Oh hey guys, so what's your plan now that the battle is over?"

Raphael shrugged "Well Fugitoid is talking with the Utrom about the other two pieces of the Black Hole Generator, I plan to binge watch every single episode of Total Drama after seeing you guys in action today."

"Good thing too, season 3 is the best so far in my opinion. Oh and be sure to check out the Ridonculous Race, a couple of friends of mine are competing."

"We'll be sure to keep that in mind." Leonardo told him "But anyway we just wanted to say thanks for helping us today, we couldn't have done it without you."

"I think you could've but I was happy to help, hey before we go could I ask you guys for one quick favor?"

"Which is?"

"A quick selfie, this is like a sci fi nerd's dream come true!"

"...And people in your world think we're fictional?" he received a nod Well… Yeah sure, why not."

"Awesome." he held out his phone "Hey Aurora you mind?"

"Not at all." Aurora held up the phone just as Adam and the Turtles posed for the picture "Say Booyakasha." and she took the picture.

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Hours passed, to them at least, and the group had returned to Earth.

As he looked out at the city from a rooftop, Adam looked at his picture with the Turtles and tucked his phone away "Hey Aurora there's something that's been bothering me."

"What is it?" asked Aurora.

"I know Ninja Turtles so I know that Kraang Prime and Kraang Subprime get blown to bits when the Triceratons invade, so then what happens to the Kraang?"

"...With Kraang Prime destroyed in the Triceraton Invasion, his horrible psychic suppression over the millions of Kraang soldiers under his control had died with him, and thus the Kraang are no more, leaving the Utrom free of his reign. Now the Utroms are free to rebuild, how long it will take is unknown but in time the Utrom will thrive once more."

"Makes sense."

"But that being said, there is another matter I've been waiting to discuss." she opened a portal in her hands, revealing what looked like a sword, and she handed it to him "This is a Dragonfang, forged from the fangs of the fire dragon of Sphaera Ignis that you had personally slain it is far more capable than any other substance throughout the 10 dimensions and can cut through almost any metal on Earth. For the one responsible for the demise of the Fire Dragon each Dragonfang is connected to you on a molecular level, and as a result it embodies your beliefs, your ideals: trust, friendship, protection, courage. Remember these words and never lose sight of who you are." and with that, she disappeared through a portal.

' _I won't. No matter what happens, I promise that I will never lose sight of myself. When the time comes I will destroy Mal once and for all, but I'll do it in my own way.'_

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter was a crossover with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the 2012 series, I figured it would be a cool way to expand on the history of Alejandro's family and Carlos's wisdom and the like. Plus I thought Adam and Alejandro teaming up with the Turtles would be cool.**

 **Michelangelo being a fan of Total Drama was a thought that I just came up with as I was writing this out, I figured it made it more relatable that way so that there would be less confusion.**

 **The Dragonfang weapons were inspired by the Dragonfang from Thor: Ragnarok, the same with the stuff about the Mystic Arts, the Fire Dragon, Sphaera Ignis, Urere and the like.**

 **I said that the Salamandrians had crossed paths with Carlos when he was a boy training under his and Alejandro's grandfather Santiago since I wanted to have an origin for where Carlos would get his wisdom and influence from. Something like a wise teacher, a guiding hand in life, a Mr Feeny to his Cory and company if you will. Plus I wanted to give Alejandro some more character development if Kraang Subprime was the one who killed his grandfather.**

 **Also, a shout out to one of the guys who reviewed this story named Gazpacho: I really do have to thank you for what you said, it may not seem like much to you but that really did put my mind at ease. You made a bunch of points that I had never even considered. Oh, and as for this barely being a Total Drama story, I understand that very well but it still is important for what I have planned for the final story in this series.**


	5. When Worlds Collide

**(Takes place between during chapters 13-14 of the Ridonculous Underdogs)**

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" _Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the Wind and Lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take both their powers for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallium was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see that Metallum would fall for his betrayal. Until the day comes when Metallum is slain the cycle will continue and if that day never comes, the true spirit of the Hurricane will be lost forever to the memory of time."_

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These words circled through Adam's head for a good long while, but he finally shook those thoughts out of his mind as he arrived at the beach on the coast of Australia ' _Now to just find the most beautiful girl on the beach surfing in a wetsuit and I'll have found Bridgette. Oh look, there she is now._ Hey Bridge!"

Sure enough, Bridgette was surfing a massive wave when she noticed Adam away from the crowd and waved to him "Hey Adam, I'm so glad to see you-" she was suddenly thrown off her board when she hit a rock in the water, sending her flying through the air screaming all the way.

"Hold on, I've got you!" using his wind powers, Adam burst into the air and caught Bridgette in his arms bridal style, sending both of them crashing down to the ground.

Bridgette blushed slightly "Sorry."

"No worries." he spat out some sand "I've gone through way worse, this is nothing. Well unless you count the potential chafing."

"I guess." she looked up at him and noticed something off ' _The look in his eyes… he seems angry, confused and kind of sad._ Are you okay? You seem kind of upset."

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I've just… got some stuff on my mind, that's all."

"You're not okay Adam, whenever you say you've got stuff on your mind that means you're upset about something. Now come on, tell me what's going on."

"...You really can read me like a book can't you? See the main reason I'm here is because there's something that I have to tell you, something that I should've told you a long time ago. You remember how I told you about that guy Mal?"

"Mike's twin brother, the evil psychotic one who's been torturing Mike for years but after your last fight with him he's been in a coma for a few years. What about him?"

"That's… That's not the real story, I made that up to keep an even darker secret that Mike and I have shared."

"What do you mean?"

"Bridgette… It's time I told you the truth. The truth about my life, about my purpose, about what I've lost, about what I've gained because of those losses, about the history that Mike and I share… and the monster that links our lives together."

"What?"

"Bridgette… this is my story."

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 **(At the same time, in Dimension 7)**

At the same time, two certain Salamandrians, mainly Sal Commander and Mona Lisa, were making their way across the galaxy "It's been so long Y'Gythgba, far too long since we've been able to face real battle. I hunger for combat with the truest of warriors!"

Mona Lisa nodded "I feel the same Commander G'Throkka, but true warriors are rare in any system."

"Perhaps." then he received a transmission "General R'Kavaka, to what do I owe this great honor of you contacting me."

" _Commander G'Throkka I bring you important information, the bounty hunter and escaped conflict known as K'Vathrak lives and has resurfaced."_

"Him of all people? After 6 Vokk years that wretched traitor turns up now? How could this be possible?"

" _How is no longer important commander, what matters is that he is captured and brought to justice and I have selected you to lead the hunt."_

"I am honored General R'Kavaka."

This was when Mona Lisa showed up "Sir tell me, is this the same criminal who-"

"Took my eyes and left me to perish by my wounds, that is him yes. I can assure you General, I will find him no matter what the cost may be. Where is he now?"

" _He has been hunting benevolent Utrom in Dimension X and travelling back and forth to a primitive mudball known to the locals as Earth."_

"I see."

"Earth?" Mona Lisa began fantasizing about her lover boy- I mean Raphael.

"Then we shall set our next course for this planet. Tell me lieutenant Y'Gythgba, are you ready for this?"

"Oh yes Raphael- I mean yes sir, of course sir. Ready as always, never otherwise."

"...Good to know. Setting the coordinates, our destination: Earth."

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Adam had moved Bridgette to a nearby bench as he finished explaining everything about his tragic past, his feud with Mal, his resolve to slay him, the 6 month deadline, him rediscovering his powers, and his newfound resolve "And that's everything."

Bridgette, horrified by the tragedies Adam had to endure, had a hand over her mouth with tears streaming down her face "You… You went through all of that? You held that pain inside of you all this time, and you were letting it eat away at you?"

"Yeah… Look I know you're probably mad at me for keeping this from you and I know that I still have some pretty serious trust issues, but after the hell that Mal put me through just for being friends with Mike when I was only 8 I don't think it's too unreasonable to say that I've earned them. Carlos once said that whenever I got close to people I would refuse to warm up to them and look for reasons not to trust them, and then isolate myself even further. That's something I don't want to risk doing with you. I'm sorry."

Bridgette said nothing, without any sort of warning she just grabbed Adam by the shirt and pulled him into a tight hug "I could see it, all this time I could see it in your eyes. You were crying endlessly, crying for help, begging for someone to put you out of your misery. I wanted to help you, to get you to open up to me about the problem so that I could help you and ease your pain, but I had never imagined that it would be so severe. I'm so sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. I kept this from a lot of people that I care about and now I can't tell them or they'll just get hurt. I kept this from Devin and Carrie, the two people who pulled me out of my six year depression, I kept this from Zoey, the girl that I might have been with if I hadn't had so much trust issues, hell I didn't even tell Cody the truth about Mal until he got back from doing the first two seasons of Total Drama because I was so scared of putting him in danger."

"Adam it's not your fault, if anything you being able to tell me, Gwen, DJ and Noah the truth about this takes a lot of courage. And I could never be mad at you for this Adam, if anything I'm honored that you trust me enough to tell me."

"I guess, but Bridgette that's not the only thing I came here to tell you. I've been thinking about this for awhile now." he freed himself from her embrace and gently took her hands in his as they locked eyes "Bridgette… I-"

"Adam."

"Son of a-" Adam looked up and saw Aurora and Alejandro appear through a portal "Let me guess, some kind of evil god hell bent on destroying all 12 dimensions? Oh wait no, the pure evil and psychotic Utrom Shredder from Turtles Forever. No wait even better, the Turtles version of the Walking Dead-"

Aurora shut him up when she held out a hand and put it over his mouth "The Utrom are being hunted through Earth of Dimension 7 and Dimension X by a criminal Salamandrian who has acquired powerful electricity based abilities. A troop of Salamandrian warriors are on their way to Earth to apprehend him, you must help the Turtles find him and bring him down before he does any lasting harm or takes any lives."

Adam looked at Alejandro, then at Bridgette, then back at Aurora "I have one condition, I want to bring Bridgette with me. I've already told her everything and I'm not going to keep lying to her."

"...Very well then. But you should know that I will not be taking the three of you there." she held out two blue glowing left handed gauntlets "These the Hurricane Gauntlets, crafted by the first Master of the Mystic Arts along with the Shatterstorm. It allows the user to travel between the 10 dimensions of the Multiverse at will, but that is just the beginning. When the user's strength of conviction is great enough they, along with the rest of your armor that you will receive as time goes on, are able to enhance the effects of the Shatterstorm and your overall powers hundreds of times over, and with enough training it will eventually allow you to tap into your true potential, granting you ultimate power unmatched throughout the 10 dimensions."

Adam put on the right handed gauntlet first, then the left handed gauntlet, then pulled the Shatterstorm off of his backs, and his body briefly crackled with electricity to the point where the ground beneath him shattered "Oh I could get used to this." he turned to Bridgette and his eyes softened "So then-"

"I'm going with you." Bridgette cut him off "This isn't a burden you should have to deal with alone, you have people who care about you and you should rely on them."

"I figured as much." he wrapped a gentle arm around her waist and grabbed Alejandro by the shoulder "So how do I teleport us?"

"Simple visualize the location in your mind, and the gauntlets will do the rest of the work for you. Good luck."

"Thanks, really." Adam tightened his grip, images appearing in his mind, and with a flash of lightning the three of them disappeared.

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 **(Earth of Dimension 7, New York City, Turtle Lair, Dojo)**

A typical day for the Turtles.

Leonardo was meditating, or at least trying to meditate, in the dojo, until he finally decided to call it quits "I just don't get it Master Splinter, I've been meditating for weeks on end and I still don't any closer to enlightenment or a higher plane or anything. I know we've always fought for peace and to protect the city, but I didn't think that peace could be so dull. I mean there's nothing left for us to do. The Foot are gone, Shredder is dead. I never thought I would miss the Kraang or the Triceratons. There isn't any evil left in this city, we've done our jobs. At this point I can't help but wonder, does this city even need us anymore? Does anyone need us?" he heard a beeping and looked at a device on his wrist "That dimensional communicator that Bishop gave me and the guys?" he pressed a button and found a hologram of Adam in front of him "What the heck? Uh hey Adam, how's it going? It's been awhile."

" _For you maybe Leonardo, but with the time dilation between our dimensions it's only been a few weeks for me. But now isn't the time for small talk, I need your help. I'm bringing a few friends of mine and we're coming to your world."_

"Wait you mean you're coming here, to New York on our Earth in our dimension? When, why, what's going on?"

" _We'll be there in about 10 minutes or so, meet us near the TCRI building and I'll explain everything."_

"Yeah just sit tight, I'll be there in a few." Leonardo grabbe his katanas and took off "Hey guys I'm going out, I'll be back in an hour!"

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 **(The streets of New York City, or an alleyway to be more specific)**

At the same time, a group of Utrom sentries disguised as humans arrived on Earth in pursuit of a certain someone hunting Salamandrians "Utrom Klaatu, what are the current coordinates of Agent Bishop?"

"Come Utrom Niktu, it is this way." Klaatu told him "We must make haste, we have little time to warm him of the Salamandrian Rogue."

"Agreed." Niktu suddenly turned around only for his head to be cut off of his body and left in a heap "It is him! It is the rogue!"

Sure enough, a shadowy figure fired an energy blast from within the shadows and pulled Klaatu straight out of his Utrom exoskeleton "Where is he? Where is Bishop?"

Klaatu barely had time to scream.

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Soon enough, Leonardo made his way to the top of a building not far from TCRI "Alright this was where they said to meet them, now where the heck are you?"

"Why don't you look up?" Adam suddenly floated down using his wind powers with Bridgette in his arms and Alejandro hanging onto his shoulder "It's good to see you Leonardo."

"Same with you." they bowed to each other in in respect "I'm sure you remember Alejandro, and this is my girlfriend Bridgette."

"A pleasure."

"Now that the formalities are out of the way we have to get down to business, Aurora asked us to come here because a criminal Salamandrian as been hunting and killing large numbers of Utrom on this Earth and in Dimension X. I think you know who I'm talking about."

Leonardo's eyes darkened "You mean the Newtralizer. He hasn't done anything or showed himself in three years and he just decides to pop up now? Rest assured Adam, me and my brothers will help you however we can."

"I'm glad to hear it, because a group of Salamandrians are on their way to Earth as we speak, and chances are the Utrom High Council will get involved too."

"Then we'll have to be careful not attract any attention before then."

"Right."

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Things were quiet back in the lair.

Raphael was watching a certain episode of a certain show and was on the edge of his seat "God this show is amazing, how did I never discover it before?"

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 **(Now a little segment called What's Raphael Watching?)**

 _Duncan wasn't anywhere near as worried as he should've been "Nice try La Cucaracha, you think taking something out of context like that is gonna-" he never got to finish his sentence as a stinging pain came across his face that sent him crashing to the ground in a heap._

 _Yeah as it turns out, Courtney had slapped Duncan across the face as hard as she could and was now standing above him, heaving in anger and grinding her teeth to the point of breaking, tears of anger brimming in her eyes "How dare you? How could you?! I thought…" now both hurt and embarrassed, she fled back to the plane so nobody would see her crying._

 _Still trying to comprehend what just happened, Duncan just sat there speechless with a good number of the remaining contestants were glaring at him._

" _Not cool bro, not cool at all." Tyler was the first one to make his way back to the plane in an attempt to comfort Courtney, with Trent and Bridgette right behind him._

 _Adam and Noah shared a look and backed off a short distance._

 _Cody gripped Gwen's hand reassuringly and led her back to the plane, glaring daggers in the direction of Alejandro all the way._

 _DJ was the only one who bothered to help Duncan to his feet "Sorry dude."_

 _Alejandro looked between Duncan, Adam and Noah and gave an expression that appeared to be apologetic "Well mi amigos, it would appear that change is now on the horizon for all of us. Just know that I take no joy in these actions, but some things have to be done for the sake of the greater good." and he made his way back to the plane after the others, failing to notice a certain gentle giant growling at him._

 **(This has been What's Raphael Watching?)**

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Raphael was biting down on his pillow "Oh man the poor guy." and then he quickly got annoyed by Donatello and April throwing popcorn at each other "You mean you guys weren't even watching this masterpiece of a show that is Total Drama? Didn't you see that Duncan just lost the love of his life because of Alejandro? You know what screw it, you have no respect for good TV these days. You two are sickening Chompy and me, I'm out of here." and so he walked off.

Donnie finally noticed him "Hey Raph did you say something?" he was ignored.

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Before long, Raph was banging on a drum set in his room, his mind racing ' _Great, all of my brothers are totally whipped. Donnie's got April, Leo's got his weird incest thing with Karai, hell Mikey even has whatever that thing is that he has with Rennet.'_ he soon gave up "You know what screw it, it's not worth it Chompy. Who needs love? Not this guy. I'm a lone wolf, a rebel, a loner and I'm fine all by-" he heard his helmet ringing "The helmet Fugitoid gave me? That thing hasn't been active since we got back to Earth." he put on the helmet and found out just who was calling him "Holey space apples! Mona Lisa!"

" _Hello Raphael, it really is great to see you. Commander G'Throkka and I need your help, we are currently en route to Earth."_

"Wait, you're coming here to Earth? That's awesome, when?"

" _We are going to be touching down soon Raphael, I will be sure to send you the coordinates when we do."_

"You just sit tight Mona, help is on the way!" he prepared to bolt out of the room, only to hit the door and fall to the ground "Ow." he picked up his t phone "Leo guess what?! Mona Lisa-"

" _-is coming to Earth, I know. I just got in touch with Adam and Alejandro, they came here in search of a rogue alien hunting Utrom. We're about to meet up with them."_

"Don't worry, I'll get the others and be there as soon as I can."

" _Right, and one more thing. Open the door next time."_

"...I hate when you do that."

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Queen and the rest of the Utrom High Council had noticed the situation "A group of warriors from Salamandria on their way to Earth, and they are not responding to any of our hailing frequencies."

" **Sacre bleu, what could zey possibly want s'il vous plait?"**

"It is hard to say at the moment." Rook noted "We already have one crazed Salmandrian on the loose on the hunt for innocent Utrom, we do not need any more. Tell me Bishop, what do you suggest that we do?"

Bishop pondered this for a moment "I will travel to Earth and organize an EPF team in order to intercept them, if they are hostile then I will deal with them myself."

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It wasn't long before Raphael and the others had reunited with Adam and the others and reached the point where the Salamandrian ship had touched down "Mona Lisa you're here, you're really here!"

"Indeed Raphael, and how I have missed you so." Mona Lisa wrapped him in a hug "It has been far too long."

"Wow, just… wow." Bridgette muttered "I mean I'm not judging them or anything but seeing stuff like this in person is kind of unnerving."

Adam let out a snort "Oh trust me, if you think this is unnerving then you have no chance of lasting when the fight comes."

Sal Commander stepped forward "Lieutenant Y'Gythgba felt that we could use your help at the moment, and given the threat perhaps she speaks the truth. A criminal Salamandrian has been hunting and killing Utrom between this Earth and Dimension X."

"The Turtles have fought him once before, Donatello had previously dubbed him as the Newtralizer. He was thought to have been killed in an accident regarding a teleporter malfunction."

"An accident that he had survived, and he has already vanished from our scanners. I fear that the accident you have mentioned has fused his teleporter with his genetic structure and granted him the ability to jump between dimensions."

"Trust me Sal Commander, you don't have to worry." Raphael told him "We'll be sure to find him no matter where he is, that's a promise." he winked at Mona Lisa, causing her to blush slightly and Adam, Alejandro and the rest of the Turtles to groan.

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 **(Dimension X)**

Thanks to the temporal differential between Earth and Dimension X, what had passed as only a year on Earth had been decades for the Utrom, and thanks to that they had at last begun to thrive prosper once more.

To this end, a group of Utrom were doing some practice katas on one of the floating islands when an explosion sounded behind them, and they knew exactly why " **Oh crud."**

Sure enough, a shadowy figure made himself known from within the smoke, his voice little more than a menacing snarl "Rokka rokka…"

" **Oh no, it's him! Run away! Run away!"** two of the Utrom nearby tried to run for their lives in fear, only for the heads of their droids to be crushed on the spot.

" **Halt mercenary!"** three more Utrom sentries showed up in an attempt to stop him " **Raise your forelimbs and submit to Utrom Sentry! Capture and contain!"**

The figure fired a few blasts at the Utrom, killing two of them on the spot and stepped out of the shadows, revealing himself to the sole surviving Utrom as none other that the Newtralizer himself "I hope you're ready Bishop, I'm coming for you! Rokka rokka rokka!"

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Adam and Leo were quick to come up with a plan "If we're gonna track down the Newtralizer before he kills any more Utrom than he already has then we're gonna have to split into no more than two teams, the more manpower each team has the better. The first team is going to consist of me, Leonardo, Donatello, April and Bridgette. Alejandro, Michelangelo, Raphael, Mona Lisa and Sal Commander will try searching his last known location."

"Then be sure to take this tracker." Sal Commander handed Adam and Leo each a tracker "This is the only way to anticipate what his next move will be."

"Thank you commander, and the best of luck to all of you." so with that being said, the two teams split up.

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It wasn't long before Mikey and the others had reached the Newtralizer's last location "So is there any sign of your boy yet?"

"He's not my boy, but the tracker says he's not far from here." Sal Commander turned his attention back to Raph and Mona Lisa "The two of you will stay here and keep watch in case he tries to teleport this way, the rest of us will advance and try to catch him before he manages to do so. Come Alejandro and Michelangelo, let us go." and so the three of them took off.

Now they they were alone, Raphael turned his attention to Mona Lisa "So Mona Lisa, what's been happening since the last time you and I just chilled?"

"Chilled? You mean the ice planet where we met?" Mona Lisa inquired "So many things have transpired since last we met Raphael, so many things. After you and the rest of your comrades returned to this world Lord Dregg launched his invasion of Salamandria, it was a huge battle and the biggest that our planet had ever seen."

"Wait a second, Lord Dregg? That insect survived us Turtles and the Triceratons after that whole thing with Tokka? Man it's hard to squash that big space cockroach!"

"It would appear so, we drove him away but Dregg had sworn to have his vengeance on-" she was cut off by a blast being fired in the distance, as well as several other follow ups "Oh no, we were supposed to be keeping watch! Commander! Alejandro!"

"Michelangelo!" the two of them rushed forward until they found Sal Commander and Mikey on the ground, with Alejandro having avoided the blasts "Commander, where is the Newtralizer? Is he still here, did he manage to escape?"

"Stay focused all of you, we're being surrounded." Alejandro dropped into a combat stance just as the group of them were surrounded by a team of EPF soldiers, followed by Sal Commander and Mona Lisa being caught in an Utrom net, electrocuting the,.

That was when Bishop revealed himself "Turtles, Alejandro, I must recommend that the three of you stand down."

"Bishop? I don't understand, what is going on? I thought the Utrom High Council considered us as your allies."

"Do not misunderstand Alejandro, you are our allies. However, Salamandrians are forbidden from entering the Milky Way galaxy."

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Leo led Adam, Bridgette and the others to an abandoned power plant per the instructions of the tracker "Okay what the shell, now the tracker says that Newtralizer is gone again."

"He's using his teleportation ability." Adam ripped off his tracker and crushed it underneath his boot "My best guess would be that he's going back and forth to and from Dimension X while hunting Utrom and-"

"Guys quiet, he's here already." Bridgette pointed forward.

Sure enough, the Newtralizer appeared back on Earth again and burned a hole through the fence as his body crackled with orange electricity, and made his way over to a power generator "Rokka rokka rokka." he placed a stray wire in his mouth and started sucking on it as if he were recharging himself.

"Wow, that's just… wow."

"Looks like he's acquired some kind of electricity based powers." Donnie noted.

"You say that like being indestructible wasn't enough for him as it is." Adam drew Shatterstorm off of his back "The smartest move would probably be to attack while he's charging himself on that stuff."

"Agreed, so let's go!" so Leo and April moved to attack him from behind.

However, the Newtralizer teleported away to dodge the attack and hit Leo with a lightning bolt that he summoned "Turtles, it's been a long time rokka rokka! I owe you for this new power that you've given me, and so to thank you properly I'll make your deaths swift!" he summoned two more lightning bolts and fired them off, knocking Donnie and April to the ground, then blitzed in front of Bridgette "I don't know who you are girl and I really don't care, but if you get in my way then I'll crush you just like the rest of them rokka rokka!" he fired off another lightning bolt at her.

Adam blitzed in front of her and cut down the lightning bolt using Shatterstorm "Not a chance you damn lizard, you're dealing with me now. Bridgette listen to me very carefully, stick with the Turtles and get off to the sidelines. This is between me and the Newtralizer."

"Alright I understand, just be careful."

"Ah yes, I've heard of you. Adam, Son of Ander, responsible for slaying two of the 6 great Cosmic Elementals of the 10 dimensions and the reincarnation of the fusion of the two most powerful."

"And you've lost me. Look I don't know how the hell you know all of that and frankly I don't care, all I know is that I've come here to kill you for your crimes against the Utrom." he strapped his axe onto his back and gripped his new Hurricane Gauntlets "You're not worthy to fall by the blade of Shatterstorm, no you're going to me by test subject for my new gauntlets and help me see what these bad boys can do."

"We'll see about that!" the Newtralizer blitzed away.

' _He's faster than I thought, but not fast enough!'_ Adam whipped around and blocked and blast of electricity from behind, as well as the Newtralizer's oncoming fist, resulting in the two of them trading even blows that blew shockwaves throughout the area before they broke away.

The Newtralizer wiped some blood away from his lip "I'll give you credit rokka rokka, you're better than I thought."

"You're holding out on me, you're toying with me aren't you?"

"Clever boy, now try this!" his body pulsed and began crackling with orange electricity, and he teleported forward and fired a barrage from his wrist blaster infused with his own electricity powers.

Adam deflected every blast with one hand and landed a palm strike on the Newtralizer's chest, sending him stumbling back.

The Newtralizer stumbled back into a fence and let out an electrical shockwave that blew apart the fence, and he dodged a number of blasts of electricity that engulfed the area in smoke, which he used to his advantage as he teleported through the smoke to try and unleash a surprise attack from behind.

Adam blocked the attack without even looking back and dealt the Newtralizer a wind and lightning enhanced fist to the face, blowing him away and sending him tumbling backwards while Adam himself powered down "Just face it Newtralizer, you have no chance of beating me."

"Maybe… Maybe not now…" the Newtralizer slowly got up and spat out some bloody as his body crackled with electricity "I'll be… back for you… and the rest of… these weaklings… and you… Rokka rokka… you will be the first to suffer!" and he teleported away.

"He'll be back, and we'll have to be ready."

Brigette quickly made her way over to Adam while helping April support Leo and Donnie "Are you okay Adam?"

"Don't sweat it, this isn't even as bad as what I got in that fight with M'Baku." he just wiped some blood away from his lip "Come on, let's get the Turtles and April and go meet up with Alejandro and the others so we can plan out our next move."

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Having been informed of the situation, Bishop quickly had the EPF soldiers release the hold they held on Mona Lisa and Sal Commander "My apologies, I did not realize that these were the same Salamandrians who had aided us against the Kraang before."

"Oh yeah, super common mistake." Raphael's tone was practically oozing with sarcasm "Hey how about this, next time look before you capture an alien life form Bishop."

"Raphael please, you must calm yourself." Alejandro called him off "We're all on the same side at least for the moment, we all share a common goal in bringing down the Newtralizer before he can do any more damage. The only question is, how do we go about it?"

"That's actually quite an easy fix." Sal Commander told him "If he desires to destroy all Utrom in existence then let's use one to bait him here so we can capture him."

Bishop found everyone looking at him "You intend to use me as bait to lure him here do you not?"

"Yes, yes we do."

"...Get into position." he ushered everyone to take hiding positions while put himself out in the open "Be sure to take positions out of sight, I am adjusting my com to an open frequency that he will be able to track easily." he adjusted his com to said open frequency "Do you hear that K'Vathrak? Come and get me coward!"

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As everyone got into position, Raphael turned to Mona Lisa "Listen Mona Lisa I've been thinking, when this whole thing with the Newtralizer is over I… I want you to stay on Earth with us. With me."

Mona Lisa was taken aback by this "But that is impossible. I am a Salamandrian warrior, all of my life is dedicated to battle and the honor of my people and my planet."

"But there's so much for you here, there's fighting and pizza and all sorts of other awesome stuff like-" he was cut off by electrical buzzing as power started to go out around the area "Oh boy,, that's not good."

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Bishop didn't even need to turn around to know what was going on "So you've finally decided to show yourself… K'Vathrak."

Sure enough, the Newtralizer had appeared behind him "Bishop! I'm going to destroy you, and once I do your precious Utrom Council is going to be the next to perish!" he summoned and fired a lightning bolt.

Bishop dodged the attack with ease and hit the Newtralizer with a barrage of ray gun blasts from above.

The Newtralizer teleported and attempted to attack Bishop from above and finished his assault with one of his exploding disks, engulfing Bishop in an explosion.

"Your reign of terror ends here!" Alejandro jump down and buried his fist into the Newtralizer's gut.

The Newtralizer coughed up some blood but managed to recover just in time to teleport above and avoid a combined assault from Sal Commander, Raph, Mikey and Mona Lisa and fended them off with ease "Rokka rokka!" then he got slammed by an EPF truck and attacked by several soldiers from afar, but he summoned a shoulder fired missile launcher at the soldiers, killing them and knocking the Turtles and the Salamandrian to the ground "Well if it isn't G'Throkka my old friend, I think it's about time I took your other eye and gave you a matching set don't you agree?" he summoned another lightning bolt.

"You dirty little-" Sal Commander could only cry out in pain as the lightning bolt struck him, frying him.

"It's over fool!"

" **You are the only fool here!"** that was when Bishop dealt him a kick to the head, half of his fake skin having been ripped away by the previous explosion.

"I'm gonna eat your brain Bishop, and I'm gonna chew it nice and slow!"

" **Do you even know why you want the Utrom destroyed as badly as you do? It's because the Kraang brainwashed you!"** Bishop started firing at him again.

The Newtralizer just ripped Bishop out of his Utrom droid body and tossed it away "Now you're going in my stomach, and I'm gonna chew you up nice and slow." he aimed to lower Bishop into his mouth.

That was when Shatterstorm swung onto the scene and knocked the Newtralizer away before returning to Adam as he arrived on the scene with Leo, Donnie, April and Bridgette "Did you really think I was gonna let you get away like that? You're not getting away from any of us that easily."

"This is even more perfect, now I have all of my enemies gathered in one place and now I can finish you all off at the same time." the Newtralizer began charging up a massive blast of electricity as he absorbed the energy from all of the technology around them.

"...Oh boy, that's not good."

"Why is that?" asked Bridgette "I mean you could stop him with ease, after all you did defeat him earlier without too much trouble."

"Yeah but you and the others wouldn't survive the kind of blast he's gonna dish out, as long as you're here I'm playing it safe and that's all there is to it."

"Adam I can take care of myself."

"I know that but do you have years of ninja training like April or the Turtles?"

"No."

"Can you stop a bus with your bare hands like Alejandro?"

"No."

"Do you have the power to kill gods like I do?" he received a look that told him to shut up "Look I'm not trying to brag or anything but I'm not gonna let you put yourself in any unnecessary danger while we're here okay?"

"...Fine."

"Good, now grab onto the others. I've got a plan." he gripped her hand as she linked all of them together "Okay, we'll teleport away on 3. 1…"

"I'm gonna watch your bodies fry!" the Newtralizer snarled, his ball of electricity growing larger with each passing second.

"2…"

"And now… YOU ALL DIE!" he fired it off.

"3!" they all disappeared right before the blast hit, causing it to soar through the air until it slammed into a nearby building and destroyed it entirely, as well as 2 or 3 surrounding buildings in the ensuing explosion.

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Adam and the rest of the group managed to blitz into the headquarters of the Utrom High Council, much to their surprise "Hey guys, how's it going? Oh yeah, they could use a couple of breathers before they suffocate to death so if you wouldn't mind?"

"Oh yes of course." Rook and Pawn fitted all of them except for Adam and Alejandro with breather units.

"Alejandro and I are fine, we've still got those charms that Aurora gave us the last time we were here."

"Yeah well lucky you." Leo breathed out a deep sigh "Still though thanks Adam, we really owe you one."

Bishop quickly stuck himself inside a backup droid body and slapped on his typical pair of shades "Queen I bring you dire news, I'm afraid the rogue Salamandrian may be too powerful for all of us which includes the EPF."

Queen frowned in thought "The existence of all 10 dimensions is at grave risk and yet we know next to nothing about our the enemy that we face."

"Actually that's not entirely true." Donnie pulled out his t phone "I was able to measure his voltage, his amperage and even his intrinsic field."

"With this data Donatello, you could be of a tremendous help to me." Rook displayed what looked like a high tech cannon "I have created an electrical dampening cannon that could end him for good, but I will need to program it with the date that you have collected."

"You said an electrical dampener? Let me check that out."

"So we have a weapon but we still need some kind of plan." Bridgette pointed out "I mean Adam did beat him before without too much trouble."

"But he was throwing electricity around at random and it probably drained whatever he had absorbed from the power plant generator." Adam told him "He drained his reserves because he wasn't expecting me to be there, now he is so that cost us the element of surprise. We have to get that cannon ready fast, if he attacks first then it's all over."

"But you can still beat him though, I know you weren't going all out."

"I know but I haven't had my powers for very long, I still can't control them very well and I don't want you guys to get hurt because of it. I told you before Bridgette, I'm playing safe with this one."

"Everyone must be sure to be wary." Queen warned "K'Vathrak is a formidable adversary and has slain many Utrom since he resurfaced only last-"

"ROKKA ROKKA!" the Newtralizer suddenly appeared behind Queen and crushed the head of her Utrom droid body before preparing to fire a lightning bolt to finish her.

"No Queen, look out!" Rook quickly jumped into the line of fire and took the full front of the blast, destroying her droid body.

" **Sacre bleu!"** Pawn was suddenly grabbed by the head of his droid body.

The Newtralizer ripped Pawn out of the droid with his mouth and prepared to devour him in one gulp "Tht't tw dwn (That's two down)!"

"Let him go!" Alejandro deal the Newtralizer a sharp kick to the head, sending him stumbling backwards and knocking Pawn out of his mouth.

"Alejandro quick get him through the portal!" Bishop threw down a portable portal that lead back to Earth.

"Understood!" Alejandro charged forward and thrusted the Newtralizer straight through the portal, with the Adam, Bridgette, April and the Turtles right behind them once Donnie had grabbed the electrical dampening cannon.

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Donnie looked around at the carnage unfolding "Oh man…"

As it turns out the Newtralizer was tossing everyone around while multitasking in the form of clashing against Adam and Shatterstorm "Rokka rokka, you'll all pay for wronging me in the ways that you did!"

Adam took the full force a lightning bolt before it could do any real damage and was blown back into a wall in the process "I'll keep him grounded for as long as I can, you guys will have to shoot him as soon as you can!"

"We're already on it!" Bridgette used one of Leo's katanas to cut open a nearby fire hydrant, with April using her telekinesis to manipulate the water and soak the Newtralizer, shorting him out in the process "Adam are you okay?" she made her way over towards him.

Adam popped his arm back into its socket "Don't get to comfortable, if there's one thing that I've learned in my life it's that it's never over when you think you get him on the first try. See for yourself."

Sure enough, with a furious snarl the Newtralizer teleported atop the biggest generator in the power plant "You don't have a chance of stopping electricity fools!" he proceeded to absorb all of the electricity from the power plant, increasing his power to even greater heights as he started firing random bolts of lightning everywhere.

"Adam look out!" Bridgette suddenly shoved Adam out of the way just before she was hit by a blast of electricity, causing her to evaporate where she stood.

"BRIDGETTE!" now in a blinding rage over Bridgette's apparent death, Adam slammed his Hurricane Gauntlets together and levelled his furious gaze on the Newtralizer "You're going to die for that." and he suddenly disappeared with a spark of lightning.

Now even further powered up, the Newtralizer let out a maniacal cackle "Now do all of you fools see, do you see what I'm capable of?"

"You wanna see angry? Well TURN AROUND!" Adam suddenly burst upwards behind him, the Shatterstorm practically burning with electricity "BOOYAKASHA!" with blinding speeds he forcefully brought down Shatterstorm on the Newtralizer, leaving a deep gash across his chest as he forced him to the ground, blood pouring from the wound.

The Newtralizer started coughing up a large amount of blood "So… how does it feel… The taste… of vengeance?"

"Don't try and appeal to the rage burning inside of my heart right now." Adam slammed his foot down on Shatterstorm, driving it deeper into the wound "Like I said, you're going to die for what you just did." he drove in even further, causing the Newtralizer to cry out in pain "Look at you, lying on the ground in a pathetic heap like the worthless piece of shit that you are. But you don't get to go yet, no your death isn't going to be swift. You don't deserve such mercy. When I'm satisfied with your screams of agony and the ground beneath us is stained with your blood, then and only then will you have my permission to die."

That was when Donnie and the rest of them noticed the power suddenly going out all over the city "It looks like some kind of electromagnetic interference, but where is it coming from though?"

Sal Commander knew, and he was horrified "Oh no, no! This can't be! He is coming, he must have followed us here!"

"What do you mean, who did?" this was followed by a massive bug ship appearing and landing in the middle of the city.

"It is him. Lord Dregg."

" _People of this pitiful world, hear me!"_ Lord Dregg's voice rang through the air " _At long last I shall reap my vengeance on both of the Salamandrians as well as the Turtles, and this whole pathetic world!"_ and then the ship started spewing out bug soldiers all over the place that began taking the city by storm.

The Newtralizer gave a smirk full of malice and confidence "Well if it isn't Lord Dregg, my old ally. Rokka rokka rokka!" he let out a malicious cackle.

Leonardo voiced the mortified thoughts of almost everyone present "Lord Dregg is… here? Are you kidding me?!" this was followed by the ship squirting ooze all over the place, which ended up spawning more bug soldiers that sent the ordinary people running away screaming "And you're not kidding me."

"Rokka rokka rokka!" the Newtralizer let out another cackle and teleported away before any of them had a chance to attack him.

"Well that's just perfect." Raph grumbled "First Bridgette gets vaporized and now Dregg is invading."

"Raph…" Mikey tried to call him off "Probably not the best time dude…" he pointed to their right.

"...Oh. Oh crap."

As it turns out, Adam's body was crackling with electricity as if it were growing with his rage over the loss if Bridgette as he whipped Shatterstorm off of his back "I'll kill him, I'll rip out his heart and stomp on it." he rose the blade of the axe up into the air, lightning practically screaming across the sky "NEWTRALIZER! COME OUT OF THERE AND FACE YOUR DEATH LIKE A MAN! GET OUT HERE AND LET ME CARVE OUT YOUR HEART YOU WRETCH!" he prepared to teleport away in a blinding rage.

However, Alejandro grabbed him by the arm stopped him before he could "Adam stop, you must control yourself!"

"LET ME GO! I'LL KILL HIM! I'LL F*CKING KILL HIM!"

"You can't go up there now, against the combined might of K'Vathrak, Lord Dregg and his entire army not even you would stand a chance on your own!"

"I DON'T CARE! NONE OF THAT MEANS ANYTHING TO ME! ALL I WANT IS TO SEE HIM SUFFER AS I RIP OUT HIS-" he never got to finish his sentence as a sharp pain struck him across the face, sending him stumbling back a few feet.

As it turns out, Alejandro had slapped him across the face as hard as he could, his hand now stinging and red as a result "You have to control yourself, if there is ever a time for you to lose yourself to your anger this is not it in the slightest! Right now the 10 of us are the only chance this world has for survival." this was followed by Leonardo being captured by one of the bug soldiers and taken away "Make that the 9 of us. You must understand, you must not lose control of your emotions or disaster is sure to follow. Bridgette's loss will be avenged I give you my word, but if there is one lesson from your training with Carlos that you must be sure to never forget it's that you cannot let your vengeance consume you or you will end up becoming just like the Newtralizer! Do you understand me?"

"...Fine." so with some reluctance, Adam strapped Shatterstorm back onto his back and the electricity surrounding his body disappeared "But when we find the Newtralizer he's mine, don't try to stop me."

"Very well, just promise me give into your anger." he received no response before more bug soldiers attacked.

"Oh good, something for me to vent my grief on." he drew his axe off of his back and prepared to fight them off.

However, Bishop had other plans "No, for now we must hurry and retreat! Everyone hurry and fall back."

"...I'm starting to hate you almost as bad as the 2003 version."

"Everyone fall back!" Sal Commander started firing blasts at the bug soldiers "I'll cover all of you for as long as I can, now fall back!" and then he got grabbed by a large number of bug soldiers.

"Commander!" Mona Lisa cried out.

"Fall back!" and then he got taken away to the ship.

"No!"

"Mona Lisa you can't save him, at least not right now." Raph told her "There's too many of them, we have to go and we have to go now!" and so 7 of the 8 that were left retreated as fast as they could.

Adam stayed behind for a moment, glaring daggers up at Dregg's ship as his fists gripped tightly to the point of bleeding "I'm coming for you, and you'll play with your life when I do." and he took off after the others.

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Dregg observed the chaos from within his ship with a smile on his face "Just look at all of the chaos, it's truly beautiful."

That was when the Newtralizer blitzed into the room and fell to his knees, blood still pouring from the wounds that he had received from Adam and his body crackling with orange electricity just like always "Lord Vrinigath Dregg, it's been a long time rokka rokka."

"And how excellent it is to see you here on this primitive ball of mud my old assassin, and with new powers that make our foes tremble. I could use your talents once more, my plan is to wipe out this pitiful planet and all of my enemies with it as I do."

"Works for me, if it destroys every Utrom still hiding on this pathetic planet then I say we go for it."

"You are brutal and needlessly sadistic as always K'Vathrak, I always did like that quality about you."

"I do have one request though. One of the companions of the Turtles, the one who wounded me as badly as this, is the newest reincarnation of the Cosmic Elemental Fusion. I know it for a fact, he has the wind and electricity powers to prove it. When the time comes to finish them, his head belongs to me."

"As long as the Turtles belong to me." and both of them started laughing maniacally.

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Bishop and the rest of the group barricaded themselves inside a bank that had been abandoned during all of the chaos "The complete incompetence of the Salamandrians was what led Dregg to Earth in the first place, his Maligna ship can spawn a countless amount of Vreen Robugs to overrun this planet all because of your collective stupidity."

"HEY!" a thoroughly pissed off (even by his standards) Raphael got right up in Bishop's face "I never really did like you to begin with Bishop, so if you talk to my woman like that again then I will shove my sais up your-"

"Thank you Raphael but I can take care of myself." Mona Lisa gently pushed Raph back and shot a dirty look at Bishop "If you dare talk to me or my man like that again then I am going to rip your Utrom brain out of that body, chew it up and spit it out!" this prompted Bishop to just push up his glasses.

"If I may interject into this conversation gentlemen and the lady." Alejandro cut in while trying to sound polite, though he was quickly getting annoyed "I believe we have more important issues than discussing who is to blame, such as the massive army of at least 10,00 bugs trying to hunt all of us down."

Donnie nodded as he did the calculations "Yeah, and if that ship keeps spouting insect eggs at the rate that it is then we have less than a week before there will be enough insects to cover the entire plane!"

"That and the fact that Lord Dregg's insect soldiers are capturing any random innocent people that they come across."

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Lord Dregg looked back and saw Leonardo and Sal Commander being brought in by his bug soldiers "Ah yes my esteemed guests, I'm so glad you could join us."

"Newtralizer! Your tail is going to be mine!" Leonardo snarled.

"We'll do this together Leonardo!" Sal Commander took out the two insect soldiers and the two of them charged.

The Newtralizer blitzed in front of them and hit them both with point blank blasts of electricity, frying them both on the spot and sending them skidding back to the point where they were captured by the purple prison pods "Rokka rokka, two down and 8 to go!"

Lord Dregg gave a malicious smirk "Now then K'Vathrak, I want you to go down there and find me the Salamandrian female, the other Turtles and that Cosmic Elemental Fusion boy, and be quick about it!"

"There are only 7 of them left, I fried that girl with the Hurricane boy into pulp before you got here." and then he teleported away.

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The group was still hiding out in the bank.

Believe it or not, Raphael was the only one to come with any kind of plan "Okay guys listen, if we're gonna take down Dregg and the Newtralizer then we're gonna need a plan."

"And what do you propose amigo?" asked Alejandro.

"I'm glad you asked Al." this caused him to cringe "Sorry. Anyway here's the plan: First we'll have to commandeer a giant Navy battleship, then we'll have to strap a rocket to the deck of said ship which will turn it into the biggest missile the world has ever seen. After that we can fly it into the air and crash it into Lord Dregg's ship, the Newtralizer will probably escape with his teleportation ability so then Adam can go ahead and finish him off with everything he's got while me and the rest of us stomp whatever Vreen are left standing like cockroaches! So, what do you guys think?"

"...I like it." Mona Lisa commented after a moment "However it does feel as if it's a little bit too much."

Mikey let out a loud snort "You think? Mona that's like a me level bad idea, and that's saying A LOT." he looked at Adam standing off alone in the corner.

"Poor guy." April muttered.

"You mean poor Bridgette, she's the one who got fried and now he might turn into the new less cheese grater like version of the Shredder. Even in the first episode of Total Drama World Tour I knew that he carried some major emotional scars, for all we know Bridgette was one of the few people in the world that he really trusted not to leave him and now she's gone! Of course he'd want the Newtralizer down there with the Shredder, I mean how could he not?"

"Oh. Wow. I hadn't thought of that."

"But like Alejandro said and like Master Splinter always said, vengeance is a poison that consumes all who seek it. It can corrupt even the purest of hearts, but it's really about how strong those hearts are and whether or not they have the strength to let go of that vengeance."

"Enough talk, we must stay on task." Bishop got everyone's attention "I have a plan of my own, one that does not require battleships and rockets."

"Well we might as well hear it anyway, let's hear it." Raphael told him.

"Very well, however my plan is going to require more than just the six of us-" he was suddenly grabbed from behind when Dregg's bug soldiers started to burst into the building through the blockage that they had set up, but he quickly freed himself "There are too many of them, for now we must retreat. This way, follow me!" and so the rest of them followed him out through the back following an explosion that Mona Lisa.

That was when Aleandro and the others saw it "Lo que en el nombre de…" as it turns out the Channel 6 building had been turned into some sort of giant nest like structure, and the people that had been captured by the bug soldiers were being cocooned along there as well.

"Hide." was all Adam needed to say before the 7 others followed his lead "If we're gonna stop this then we need a plan."

"Here is one, follow me. This way." Bishop led the group through a nearby alley in an attempt to escape.

That is, before the Newtralizer blitzed in front of them "You pathetic fools, rokka rokka! You don't have a chance of winning!"

"We will see about that." Bishop grabbed the Electrical Dampening Cannon and fired it, hitting the Newtralizer dead on but not even effecting him in the slightest.

"Your toy isn't going to work on me Bishop, that boy is far more powerful than that piece of trash and I'm adapting to that so you have no chance!" he blitzed forward and dealt Bishop an electric slug to the gut, sending him crashing into a wall and ripping off half of the fake skin on his face "That's just the beginning Utrom scum, once you and this world are done for I'll finish the job on that wretched council!"

Adam held out a hand to stop the Turtles and the others from advancing "No, you guys won't be fighting him. I have something to say to him first."

"Oh is that right boy? So how dies it feel, the burning desire for vengeance, the realization that with your power you could mold the 10 dimensions into your own image? Trust and friendship, those things are worthless! Power and vengeance are the only things you can rely on, and the more power you have the better off you are! Power means nothing if you don't use it to its fullest extent, so use yours and reshape your world, destroy whoever stands in your way!"

"...You know you do make a few good points there K'Vathrak, with the power I wield it probably wouldn't be too much of a chore to take out anyone I want to." he slowly pulled Shatterstorm off of his back "I've never thought of myself as a hero of a saviour of any of that, and if I had been on my own and made one bad move then I might have ended up exactly as you are now. But I'm not, and I won't. My mentor's name was Carlos Burromuerto, the older brother of Alejandro back there, a kind and gentle soul filled with purity and wisdom, and he was the one who saved me from myself when I was at my lowest point. He once told me that vengeance consumes all who seek it, it can corrupt even the purest of hearts and now I truly understand what he was trying to tell me. Vengeance can consume anyone, and you and I are no different. When I look at you I see what was once a truly great warrior, but now has allowed his vengeance to turn him into nothing more than a murderous beast. If I were to choose to kill you now in order to avenge what you had done to Bridgette then I would be going against everything that Carlos had ever taught me and entrusted to me." he threw Shatterstorm over to Alejandro "Vengeance may have consumed you K'Vathrak, but I cannot and will not allow it to consume me as well. So I fight you now not for the sake of vengeance, but for the sake of protecting those I love and those who believe in me." this was met with looks of relief and approval from Alejandro and the others behind him.

"Well that's a pity, I could've used you to wipe out all of the Utrom and save me the trouble. If that's the case then I'll just have to kill you myself!" the Newtralizer blitzed forward and fired off a normal sized lightning bolt.

Adam deflected the blast with ease as he blitzed forward and slugged the Newtralizer in the gut, sending him crashing into a wall "Hey Michelangelo, may I have the honor?"

"You know it bro, kick his tail in!" Mikey cheered.

"Thank you. BOOYAKASHA!" with a mighty roar and his Hurricane Gauntlets vibrating and crackling with electricity, Adam unleashed a powerful blast of lightning, sending the Newtralizer crashing through two or three buildings "And that's why I don't let my vengeance consume me, because if I do then I would lose control and hurt the people I care about most." he looked back at Alejandro, the Turtles and the others as he lowered his head "I just wish I could've been able to save Bridgette, and I wish I could've told her… I-"

"Look!" Mikey suddenly pointed to where electricity was randomly crackling in this air "What the shell is going on?"

Adam looked over and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head "What the hell…?"

A bright light covered the area and when it vanished it revealed none other than Bridgette good as new, a bright smile across her lips and her eyes blazing with so much confidence it was nearly out of character "Hey guys, how's it going?"

"Bridgette…"

"Hold that thought, he's coming back." she looked over and her eyes hardened as the Newtralizer materialized, still badly damaged after taking so many of Adam's attacks "Hey Newtralizer, I call this one my Water Bullets!" she fired off a barrage of water bullets from her fingers and gracefully subdued the three bug soldiers approaching the scene when she blitzed across them and tapped pressure points, paralyzing them but not killing them, and then she noticed something "Mikey look out, they're right behind you!"

But it was too late, Mikey got captured by the bug soldiers "Let me go dudes, I got pizza I can trade you for!" and then he was taken away.

Donnie found himself grabbed by the Newtralizer out of nowhere as well "Hey what the- Let go of me!"

"Donnie no!" April cried out.

"I'll get him!" Bridgette used her powers to blitz forward and catch them, only for them to teleport away before she could and she hit the ground "Or not."

"Donnie! No!" April fell to her knees.

Adam gently helped Bridgette to her feet and pulled her into a tight embrace "Bridgette… I don't understand, how…?"

"When the Newtralizer zapped me earlier with his little electrical fit at the power plant he didn't vaporize me, he just scattered my molecules throughout the area and they ended up absorbing some of the energy left behind so when my body reconstituted itself I had gained some kind of water and ice powers as a side effect."

"...I only understood about half of that but I'm just thanking the big guy up there that I didn't lose you."

"Yeah." she leaned into his embrace "I heard what you said to the Newtralizer too, about how you refused to fight for vengeance. I'm proud of you." she pecked him on the lips.

" **I must warn you to be careful Bridgette."** Bishop warned " **Eventually your powers could burn out and if they do then they will destroy you as well."**

"...Then we'd better stop Lord Dregg and the Newtralizer before that happens, we'll worry about my powers then."

Adam nodded "She's right guys, we'll need her powers in order to win this. Let's head back to the Turtles' Lair and come up with a new plan."

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So the group, or rather what was left of the group, retreated back to the Turtles' Lair in order to come up with an effective plan of attack.

Adam started to lay out the plans in Donnie's lab "Lord Dregg's Maligna ship is here in the center, Bishop will organize a group from the Earth Protection Force from the left side. While that's going on, Raphael, Mona Lisa, Bishop and April will hit the other side of the ship inside the Turtle Mech. During that time I'll aid the Earth Protection Force in fighting off Dregg's ship and freeing the people that he's captured so far, which leaves Alejandro and Bridgette to use her powers to get inside the ship from the back, free all of the others and take down Lord Dregg and the Newtralizer once and for all."

"This isn't going to be easy." Mona Lisa pointed out, only to be met with a scoff from pretty much everyone else present.

"You say that like anything we do is easy, but as my mentor and Alejandro's older brother had once said nothing worth having or accomplishing can be done without effort." he looked over to where Bridgette was sitting outside the lab lost in thought "You guys get ready and start preparing for the big brawl, I've got something else to take care of." and he made his way out of the lab.

With this in mind, everyone started making their preparations for the final showdown.

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Adam made his way over to Bridgette and sat down next to her "We're getting ready to make an assault on Dregg's ship."

"Good, the sooner this is over the better." she didn't bother looking at him.

"Come on Bridge, talk to me. What's going on, what's eating away at you?"

"...How do you do it Adam?"

"Do what?"

"For as long as I've known you you've always put others before yourself, you've done things for other people that would drive most people insane all for the sake of helping others. You've always been so gentle and compassionate, yet so blunt and fearless, strong willed and determined, yet you've never thrown the first punch, never started a fight even if you were in a good number of them, and even when you do fight it's always for the sake of others and not for yourself, and that was before you got these crazy powers that make you into some kind of superhero. I don't think I have that, even with these electrical powers I just don't think

"...I'm not perfect Bridgette, I've done a few things over the years that I'm not proud of and I never will be. When I fought Mal for the first time almost 5 years ago I tried to force myself to believe that I was fighting him just to save Mike, but deep down somewhere inside of me part of me was urging me on to finish the job for what he did to me." he pulled up his shirt, revealing that he had discarded his fake layer of skin and his scars were now visible "Not just for these, but for what he did to my mom and my dad. I think Carlos saw that in me and tried to cleanse me of my hatred in any way that he could. When I first signed up to be on Total Drama so that I could help Cody win Carlos was pretty sick back then, and the day before I left he gave me something really important." he pulled out something very familiar.

Bridgette was quick to recognize it "That's like the necklace Alejandro wears all the time."

"It's a family thing, they each get a bull headed necklace when they turn 16. It's been a tradition in their family for generations. I didn't realize it at the time but he knew that that would probably be the last time that I would see him while he was alive and he wanted me to keep this as a sort of memento of him. It definitely worked, even while I was at war with Alejandro throughout the course of Total Drama World Tour I didn't try to get you guys to vote him off because I held too much respect for Carlos. Even when we fought back in Area 51 I didn't try to hurt him too badly because of that and I only fought when he threw the first punch. Now I realize that I wasn't just fighting him because of what he did to Duncan and Courtney, and to Gwen and Cody by extension, it was because of how he was disrespecting Carlos' teachings and everything that he believed in. I felt like I couldn't let that go unanswered."

"But you just were doing it to protect Carlos' teachings and try to snap Alejandro out of that mindset, that couldn't be helped."

"Maybe not, but now that Alejandro is one of the few people that I can trust with this secret I still feel kind of guilty about that."

"I guess." she smiled slightly "Plus there are those few times with the kangaroo back when we were in Australia."

"Hey that's an exception, that thing started!" he sounded indignant, which prompted her to giggle slightly "Anyway things died down for awhile after that, at least until we hit Africa and all of that shit went down."

"You mean with me almost falling to my death."

"I was gonna say with Cody and the others being kidnapped by M'Baku, truth be told I probably never would've been able to beat him if it wasn't for Chef and I wouldn't have been able to take him down if I didn't have what I was fighting for."

"Not to mention that after that you saved my life."

"I never would've been able to if it wasn't for DJ. Anyway to answer your question Bridgette, I don't fight just for the sake of it. Training and working out all the time is honestly more of a stress relief thing or a hobby of some kind, but my real strength comes from my burning desire to protect the people that I care about. I don't see myself as a hero or a savior or anything because I don't think of myself as worthy of titles like that. I don't see myself as a fighter and I'm more than just a warrior, what I want to think of myself as is a protector. I just want to protect them and make sure no pain befalls them, no matter how much pain may befall me. That's who I am and that's what I want to do, make sure that nobody has to go through the same pain that I did because of Mal." he wrapped an arm around her "But if there's one thing I've learned from being on Total Drama, it's that whatever burden you carry it's not one that you have to carry on your own."

"...You know you're pretty wise for a college student."

"I'm really not, I just had a really good teacher. Come on, we've got a big fight on our hands right now." he pulled her to her feet "And that reminds me, when this is over I've got something really important that I wanna tell you."

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"Get the shell off of us you dang dirty bugs!" Mikey and Donnie were taken by the bug soldiers into Dregg's ship, although not very gracefully, and were thrown into prison pods in the back.

Lord Dregg looked down on them with nothing but pure contempt "There is no escape from my webs of vengeance fleshlings, you see you've messed with the wrong intergalactic overlord. It won't be long now, soon this primitive mud ball of a planet will be little more than dirt beneath my feet!" he looked out at the people still being trapped and cocooned onto the gigantic nest covering the Channel 6 building.

Leonardo and the others were mortified "Are you… Are you going to eat all of those innocent people?"

"Of course not, even I find that disgusting. I intend to make them into living egg sacs to be used by my Vreen children."

The Newtralizer didn't seem too keen on this idea "You mean you're going to capture every human on this planet? That's going to take way too much time Dregg, just blow this wretched planet up so we can move on and destroy the rest of those damned Utrom!"

"Don't correct me if I'm wrong but I don't remember asking for your opinion on this matter hench-" Dregg was cut off by an explosion and looked down to see the Earth Protection Force firing at the ship with the Utrom weaponry in full force "Is that the best that these humans are capable of? That's just pathetic, Vreen return fire!" he had his ship fire an energy blast down at the EPF forces forces, sending those who could running, seeing how a good number of them had been incapacitated by the blast.

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" _That's right you worthless puny fleshlings, capture as many as you can my children and then stomp the rest and those who would dare to stand in your way! Give them the same treatment that they give my children!"_

That was when a blast hit the other side of the Maligna ship, courtesy of Raphael and the others in the Turtle Mech "Say hello to the Turtle Mech you can cockroach!"

" _This is just excellent, they put themselves in a tin can and now all I have to do is squeeze them out of it!"_ so Dregg had his ship start firing energy blasts at the mech.

Raphael and the others dodged the blasts and leapt onto the side of the ship, only to be met with a large number of leech soldiers latching onto the front of the Turtle Mech "Hang on guys, let me shred-"

"I've got these guys!" Adam quickly blitzed in front of the Turtle Mech and cut the leeches down using Shatterstorm, splattering himself with goo "Go ahead and keep going guys, I'm gonna do what I can to help the EPF from out here!" he blitzed forward and dealt the ship a sharp lightning enhanced kick to the face "And now for the coup de grace!" he fired two simultaneous blasts of electricity, one at the ship to stun it and the other at a nearby pesticide factory, releasing a massive cloud of gas, damaging it considerably and knocking it to the ground "Alright guys I made an opening, now's your chance!"

"Alright, just be careful out here." so Bridgette kissed Adam on the cheek, grabbed Alejandro by the shoulder and the two of them blitzed away into Dregg's ship.

So with that out of the way, Adam made his way over to the EPF "Hey guys, you need some help with this?"

"All of the civilians were supposed to have been evacuated!" one of the soldiers barked "Get out of here and get to somewhere safe!"

"Calm down guys, there's no need to get so worked up." he held up an Utrom symbole "I was sent here by Bishop, I'm here to help. And before you say anything like I'm just a kid let me point out to you that I'm the one who stunned that thing and blew up the pesticide factory. Now that I say that out loud I realize that I probably shouldn't have said that."

"...If you're with Bishop then you're fine with us, what's the plan?"

"From what I've been told by Bishop these things are weak to electricity, the heavy hitters with all of the Utrom tech should aim for the legs since that's the weak spot. I'll do any damage that I can with my powers, the rest of you work on freeing and evacuating the citizens that have already been captured over on the Channel 6 building. Got it?"

"Sir yes sir!"

"Good, now move out men!" so as they moved out to carry out the plan Adam drew Shatterstorm off of his back as the axe and his Hurricane Gauntlets all began crackling with a massive amount of electricity as the skies darkened and he leveled his gaze on Lord Dregg's ship "And as for you… BRING ME K'VATHRAK!" with a mighty roar he burst forward and brought down his axe on the head of the ship, heavily damaging it as well as annihilating every bug soldier in the surrounding area while the EPF got to work on attacking the legs of the ship.

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At the same time, Bridgette and Alejandro appeared inside Dregg's ship "Okay we're in, now we've gotta get moving. The other Turtles and Sal Commander will have to be around here somewhere."

"From what Adam has told me, Lord Dregg sees his prisoners as trophies and prefers to keep them in his throne room so he can gloat over his victories." Alejandro told her.

"So then we make a break for the throne room and then we-"

"Rokka rokka!" the Newtralizer suddenly blitzed onto the scene and used his powers to send the two of them tumbling backwards, his body crackling with electricity "You foolish girl, your power is weak in comparison to what I wield rokka rokka!"

"What's weak is how you let your hatred for the Kraang, a species who have been gone from this dimension for almost an entire year, drive you to take the lives of innocent Utrom who have never done anything to you! For the sake of those you've hurt, I'm going to defeat you here and now!" and so the two of them charged at each other at full speed, clashing throughout the area using their blitzing abilities "Alejandro head to the throne room and free the others, I'll take care of the Newtralizer and join up with you soon!"

"Very well, just do not waste time with him!" and so Alejandro took off running down the halls of the ship.

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Raphael and the others were still struggling with subduing Dregg's ship as it got back up, even with the damage Adam and the EPF had dealt it "The pesticide isn't working, it's starting to shake it of! April hit em with fire!"

"How about I make it extra crispy?" April unleashed the Turtle Mech's flamethrower down on the ship, causing it to roar in pain.

"Rokka rokka, don't let up on it! We've got them now!" Mona Lisa forced the Turtle Mech to leap high into the air and attempt to force their way into the ship by breaking through the front, only for the ship to catch the Turtle Mech in its jaws and close it, ripping off the Turtle Mech's arms and legs in the process, but the four of them still managed to escape in time and use their grappling hooks to get themselves up onto the roof of the ship.

Raphael voiced the question of the day "Now then, how the hell are we supposed to get into this thing?"

"I've got it." that was when Adam blitzed onto the scene "Civilians are safe and the EPF are dealing with this thing's legs, let's rock some shit." he swung Shatterstorm and unleashed a blast of lightning that carved a hole into the ship "Let's go then, we've got friends to save and a gigantic newt to kill." and so the five of them jumped down into the hole.

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Adam lead the group down into the hole and led them into the throne room "Okay guys we're here."

"So what now, we free the others?" asked April.

"Nope." he fired a blast of lightning up at where Lord Dregg and his bug soldiers were planning to ambush them.

Dregg was the only one who managed to dodge "To think you were foolish enough to come here and face me in person, now I can eliminate you all and at last claim my vengeance for your transgressions-" he was cut off when the Newtralizer suddenly landed on him and threw him to the ground "For crying out loud K'Vathrak, why do you always have to interrupt me when I'm in the middle of a good monologue?" he received a groan "So what in the universe are you doing right now?"

That was when Bridgette blitzed onto the scene "You can thank me for that, that's so unexpected it's shocking even to me!" she unleashed a blast of electricity towards the purple prison pods, freeing Leo and Donnie "How was that?"

"7/10 for the blast, 5/10 for the pun." Adam unleashed his own blast of electricity towards the rest of the purple prison pods, freeing Mikey and Sal Commander.

"I didn't think you would be such a tough scorer."

"Yeah well, now you do."

"Trespassing fools!" now thoroughly pissed off, Dregg summoned a large number of his bug soldiers out of nowhere, which the Turtles and the others started fighting off and beheading and the like.

The Newtralizer subdued Sal Commander with a quick blast of electricity and used another blast to send Adam stumbling backwards "Now guess what G'Throkka, your tail is going on my belt as a trophy!" he grabbed Sal Commander by the tail.

"Let him go! Booyakasha!" Bridgette dealt the Newtralizer an ice enhanced kick to the face, sending the three of them falling down through a hole.

Adam watched this as he cut down another bug soldier with Shatterstorm ' _Bridgette… It's all up to you now.'_

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By this point, Bridgette was sliding down a tunnel into the deeper parts of the ship, with Sal Commander and the Newtralizer right behind her, only now she was on her stomach "This right here is why years of surfing pays off, be sure to take notes commander!"

"I will be sure to keep this in mind!" Sal Commander dealt the Newtralizer a sharp kick to the jaw, sending him through a hole in the side of the tunnel "You do seem like an honorable being miss… Bridgette is it? Yes perhaps you wouldn't mind teaching me?"

"I'd love to, after this is over that is." they landed in a large room with what looked like an electric core in the center below many platforms and levels "What the heck, it looks like some kind of electric insect rave party."

"This is Lord Dregg's power station, it provides energy for the entire ship."

"That… was not going to be my second guess, truth be told it wasn't even close. So then what do we-"

"ROKKA ROKKA!" the Newtralizer suddenly burst onto the scene and charged at them in a rage.

"Look out!" Bridgette pushed Sal Commander out of the way and charged at the Newtralizer at full speed.

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The battle in the throne room raged on against Lord Dregg and his Insectoid forces.

Adam was quick to send Lord Dregg tumbling backwards with a blast of electricity "He can't take any sort of electricity, just take care of the foot soldiers and leave Dregg himself to me to deal with!"

"Right! You heard him everyone, let us take this battle and claim victory!" so Alejandro and the others started to finish off the remaining bug soldiers and the numbers quickly began to dwindle away.

Adam made his way over to Dregg's downed form "This battle is over, you lose and now you're gonna pay the price for attacking this world."

"Perhaps… but perhaps not…" Lord Dregg forced himself to his feet with a malicious smirk plastered across his face "I must say boy you are quite talented, very nicely done. You hold power and potential within you that not even you have begun to understand, and yet despite that you continue to exceed my expectations. You destroy hundreds if not thousands of my children and dominate K'Vathrak with powers surpassing even his and you appear none the worse for wear about it. If you're interested then I seem to find myself short a bounty hunter, with your fearless strength you would make a worthy addition to my forces as my top general. Think of it, you would be a respected warrior and magnificent warriors if not the universe itself would be at your disposal. What would you say to that?"

Adam looked down on him, his eyes showing his dead serious expression "I don't work for scum, and even if I did that sounds pretty lame. Count me out."

"...You turn up your nose at my offer." he was barely concealing his rage "That's a shame. By the way my boy I'm curious about that axe that you wield, it must be quite a piece of workmanship is it not? Truly, for how else could you have drawn it through as many of my children as you did with such ease? Might I take a closer look?"

Adam made no moves.

"Oh come now boy, you're not afraid to be without your trust weapon for a moment now are you?"

"...You want to see the Shatterstorm do you?" Adam held out a hand to stop Alejandro and the others from advancing as he drew Shatterstorm off of his back and threw it to him "Go ahead and look as much as you like."

Dregg caught the axe in his hand and observed the blade "Just as I had expected, this weapon has been forged by a master. I'm thinking that perhaps the only reason that you slew as many of my children as you did was because you had this axe in hand, does that sound about right?"

"I don't know, is that what you believe?"

"Yes, at last it all makes perfect sense now!" he gripped the axe with both hands "Clearly without this magnificent weapon in your possession you are nothing, now DIE!" he brought down the blade.

Adam easily caught the blade with one hand as his body began crackling with electricity and he began pushing Dregg backwards inch by inch "Well I think it's safe to say that you're wrong but you probably figured that one out for yourself already." he held out his hand towards Dregg's chest.

"Wait no! Mer-"

"Are you really going to ask me for mercy?" his eyes started blazing not with his power, but with his unrivaled fury "How many innocent people have asked you for mercy as you wiped them out for the sake of your so called empire? Hundreds, thousands? What gives you the right to expect any, especially from me?! Let me answer that for you, you don't deserve any." and with that he fired one final blast, killing Lord Dregg before he even had time to scream and blowing a massive hole through the ship, before he powered back down and strapped Shatterstorm back onto his back.

Alejandro slowly approached him and put a hand on his shoulder "You killed him, but you chose not to do it for vengeance. Well done."

"...Come on, we've gotta go help Bridgette and Sal Commander deal with the Newtralizer before he adapts to her powers too."

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The battle in the ship's power station continued in earnest.

Bridgette was continuously clashing with the Newtralizer, blitzing throughout the area and keeping up with him for one blow after another "I've got some crazy zap in my tap, and now you're gonna feel just how much!"

"Rokka rokka!" the Newtralizer dealt Bridgette a sharp kick to the torso and blitzed forward to follow up.

Bridgette blitzed away from him in a brief chase around the power station but was eventually hit by a stray blast of electricity and sent crashing into a nearby wall.

"This little game is over girl, now I'm going to take you apart piece by piece!"

"Traitorous wretch!" lucky for Bridgette, that was when Sal Commander burst onto the scene and dealt the Newtralizer a sharp kick to the torso, sending him falling to his apparent death in the ship's power core "Are you alright?"

"Yeah… Yeah I'm okay." Bridgette got back to her feet just as a massive surge filled the power station "This is bad, the power core must not be able to absorb all of the Newtralizer's electrical energy! It's going to come down!"

That was when Adam and the others showed up "Alright so I went bug zapper on Lord Dregg and now that's dealt with, what's the situation with the Newtralizer?"

"Sal Commander kicked him into the power core and now the whole ship is gonna blow and we're all still inside."

"Huh. So this is happening. But is the Newtralizer actually-"

" _ **ROKKA ROKKA!"**_ that was when the Newtralizer burst up from within the power core, his entire body now completely overloaded with power as he fired a massive blast of electricity at the group.

Adam and Bridgette shared a look and a nod, and together they combined their powers and used them to fend off the blast "It's okay, we've got this! Everyone hurry and get out of here before the ship explodes!"

"No, you mustn't or it will destroy the both of you!" Sal Commander protested.

"You got a better idea? Didn't think so, now stop whining and get moving already before this guy turns into Newtzilla!" Adam ripped off one of his Hurricane Gauntlets and quickly tossed it towards Alejandro "Now hurry up and go already!"

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Realizing that it was going to be destroyed and that its master was gone, Dregg's ship tried in vain to take off and leave the Earth.

Alejandro quickly used the Hurricane Gauntlet to punch a way out of the ship "This way everyone, we must hurry!" so he ushered the Turtles, April and the Salamandrians out of the ship and onto the roof of the Channel 6 building nearby.

"Looks like the ship is taking off, but what about Adam and Bridgette?" Mikey was answered with the ship exploding in mid air "Oh. Oh shell."

Alejandro hung his head in silence.

That was when a flash of light appeared, revealing Adam holding Bridgette in his arms bridal style, both of them alive and well "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Excellent work mi amigo, senorita." Alejandro caught Adam in a quick high five, only to end up electrocuted and blown back into a wall, the gauntlet being blown off in the process "Ow…"

"Sorry about that." Adam set Bridgette down "That reminds me Bridge, what are we gonna do about your powers?"

" **I have the solution."** that was when Bishop revealed himself, having lost his artificial skin but oddly enough not his shades, and he still had the Electrical Dampening Cannon " **This weapon did not have any effect on the Newtralizer but it could still work on Bridgette. With her consent of course."**

"Go ahead and do it." Bridgette told him without a moment's hesitation "This power, it's tempting but in a bad way. There's a line with this sort of thing, I'm not sure where it is exactly but I know that if I keep it then I could end up on the same side of it as the Newtralizer and that's definitely on the wrong side of it. I can't and won't force my answers on people, not after everything that I've seen and done in the past 24 hours. This kind of power, it's too much for anyone and it should never be used again. Do it."

" **Very well."** so Bishop fired the Electrical Dampening Cannon, stripping Bridgette of her powers once and for all " **How do you feel?"**

"Like I just came off of a major sugar high, but otherwise I feel fine."

So Mikey then made the call "Well then I same it's time to celebrate, Booyakasha style! The pizza is on me!"

"I'm afraid we do not have time for a celebration." Sal Commander ruined the mood "Myself and lieutenant Y'Gythgba must head back to Salamandria and report to the General on the outcome of our mission. Rokka rokka."

That was when Mona Lisa had a different thought "But Commander G'Throkka I… I request permission to remain on the planet Earth in order to maintain safety of the planet from various potential insectoid alien threats sir."

Sal Commander saw right through this and gave a small smile "Your permission has been granted Lieutenant Y'Gythgba, you may remain on Earth."

"Thank you sir."

And then Bishop ruined the moment " **Negative, such a thing violates protocol 27-9-B which refers to unauthorized aliens remaining on planet-"**

"No one cares Bishop." Adam punched off the head of his droid "Anyway Raphael, Mona Lisa, you guys do whatever you want but there's something I have to say first." he took Bridgette to the side.

"So what's up?" asked Bridgette "I mean no offense Adam but I doubt whatever you say can top what we just went through as being the most noteworthy thing to happen today."

"Try me." he took a deep breaths and gently took her hands in his "Bridgette… For so long I had always believed that life is nothing more than a struggle to accomplish an important goal and once you accomplish that goal you have nothing left to live for, and the only thing you have left to do was end it, and that nobody would care if you were still there or not. You would be cast off into the next world, and this world would just forget that you existed, as if you were never there to begin with, to emphasize even further that your existence made no difference in the world. I was fine with that because I didn't think I really had anything to live for. But after I met you, those thoughts began to change. After I lost my parents and Mike disappeared, I sort of built a wall around me so that I would prevent myself from getting hurt, and Carlos was the only one who at first who could really penetrate that wall. I had thought that life would go on without me and that no one would miss me, that after my goal had been accomplished I wouldn't have had any reason to live. But you… you gave me a reason to live beyond that point, to actually want to live after I accomplish that goal, to give me something to fight to protect so that I won't have to resort to fighting through anger alone. And that's why… I love you Bridgette. I really and truly love you." he leaned in and kissed her.

"...Yep it's official, that was totally worth giving up all of that power." she eagerly returned the kiss in full as she wrapped her arms around his neck "And Adam… I love you too."

"Well this is disgusting." Raphael muttered, only to be blasted off the roof by Adam.

 **A/N:**

 **This is the second of a few crossover chapters with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the 2012 series, since I had so much fun doing the first one I figured why not do a few more of them. This one is based on the 2 parter from season 5, When Worlds Collide. I've been stewing on this one for awhile and I figured why not add it into this story.**

 **I added in Bridgette and gave her water powers instead Mikey with his electricity powers because I wanted to give her more screen time, or more page time I guess, since she hasn't appeared since the prologue. Plus I gave an explanation for her acquiring the powers which the original episode lacked, and it adds into something I'll introduce next chapter.**

 **The "BRING ME K'VATHRAK" scene, in case it wasn't obvious, is a reference to Thor's arrival in Wakanda in Avengers: Infinity War.**

 **This is the start of Adam getting more and more armored up over the course of the next few chapters, as is mentioned in the title of the chapter.**

 **So just for the sake of being clear about the 10 dimensions, the Turtle reality is the 7th dimension and the Underdog/ Total Drama reality is the 8th dimension and Dimension X is the 10th dimension (X is 10 in roman numerals). 4 of the other 7 dimensions (the other 3 being the other Turtle realities such as 1987 Turtles, 2003 Turtles and prime Turtles) will be visited or at least referenced later on throughout this story and later on in the series**

 **Also, to Gazpacho again: I know that people might not be a huge fan of that but I can assure you that the fourth and final story of the trilogy will be full on Total Drama stuff, at least for the most part. Also, thanks for the support. It really does mean a lot.**


	6. A Looming Threat

**(Takes place between during chapters 14-15 of the Ridonculous Underdogs)**

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" _Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and the Metallians and their ruler Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the wind and lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take their power for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, and in the process the homeworld of the Metalians, Metallum, was destroyed, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallum was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see Metallum fall for his betrayal. Unsatisfied by this, Metallum made a pact with the Cosmic Elemental of fire, Urere, to create a warrior of fiery pure evil simply to torture each reincarnation until it ceased. Until the day comes when Metallum is slain the cycle will continue and if that day never comes, the true spirit of the Hurricane will be lost forever to the memory of time."_

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Adam opened his eyes and found himself in a black void ' _This is another dream about_ _ **him**_ _isn't it? Well no more, I promised myself for the sake of Bridgette and the others I wasn't going to fight him for vengeance._ I know you're there, go ahead and show yourself Mal."

Sure enough, Mal appeared before him with a malice filled smirk plastered across his face, with the same shadowy figure standing beside him and speaking for him " _ **Well what do we have here? I can see that that wretched lizard failed to kill you and your little girlfriend, just as I had expected. You're quite the resilient one aren't you Adam, you just don't know when to quit."**_

"Yeah it's been a long time hasn't it? You're about the same as I remember."

" _ **And you haven't changed in the slightest either since our last fight more than 5 years ago, how amusing you can be. So what are you doing here now? If you're here to resume that fight then you should know that this isn't the right time or place, but once I have control of Mike's body again I will kill you."**_

"I'm not here to fight you, but I do have something important to say." Adam's gaze darkened and hardened "I'm going to say this once and only once so listen well Mal." he drew Shatterstorm off of his back "All this time I've been forced down the path you want me to take, but thanks to the people in my life that I can depend on I have the strength to change my path and begin a new one. When the time comes I will not hesitate to fight you but it won't be for the sake of vengeance, it will be for the reason I promised to both you and myself all those years ago: to save my friend."

" _ **...Your friend?"**_ the shadowy figure let out a malicious chuckle " _ **Do you really want to delude yourself as much as that? Never has Mike or Devin or Carrie or Cody or any of those worthless peons ever been your friends, and now that your precious mentor is dead and gone rotting away 6 feet under you don't have a single ally in this world or any other world, least of all with your own kind. Such a pathetic and cursed thing you are. Those who adore you, those who believe in you, those who respect you, and those whom you yourself love will surely leave you. That much I can promise you, especially when they find out the truth about you."**_

"Don't think you know anything about me Mal. Even if that does turn out to be true, even if you're 100% right there are things that I have to protect and I'll give up my life to do that if I have to, and in order to do that I will fight with all of my strength even if I have to turn all of them against me. But it won't come to that, I will make sure of it." he strapped Shatterstorm back onto his back and started walking away "Remember this Mal. I will get stronger, I will defeat you, but I refuse to become like you. When I defeat you, it will be on my terms." and with that, he walked away as the black void turned white and Mal faded away while the shadowy figure suddenly evaporated, only for it to almost immediately turn blood red out of nowhere, and the tension in the air grew unsettlingly thick, and images began appearing around him of blood, fire, corpses and skeletons on the ground littering the area "What the hell, what's going on? I already conquered Mal, what else is there to haunt me at night?"

" _ **Much more than you could ever imagine."**_ a haunting voice echoed throughout the void " _ **Gaze upon these images boy, for they are all that your future holds for you, and soon you shall suffer for your transgressions and your crimes against my kind!"**_

Adam summoned his Hurricane Gauntlets and drew Shatterstorm off of his back as he got into a stance "Who are you? Where are you? Show yourself, come out and face me like a man!"

" _ **You turned against me, you and that other wretch combined with each other and you dared to defy me!"**_

Adam whipped around and his eyes widened in pure horror and disgust "What the hell… What are you?"

Before him stood a hideous hulking figure with glowing green eyes, a metal mask across his face with his teeth being visible on the side of the mouth, his body being hulking and muscular with blade sticking out from virtually everywhere, blue veins also being visible in various spots and areas, with three crystals embedded in his chest, one being orange, one being red and one being dark grey " _ **What I am is your demise, after countless millennia of you respawning yourself over and over again just to haunt me, my blades shall run you through and then the cycle shall end!"**_

"You lost me at run you through, now down you go psychopath!" Adam blitzed behind the figure and attempted to slash him using Shatterstorm.

The figure caught Shatterstorm in his hand and caught Adam in a chokehold.

"That… That's not… possible…"

" _ **Foolish child, you have no idea of what is possible."**_ he shattered the axe in his hand as it crumbled into dust " _ **There is no place you can run and no place you can hide where I will not find you. You think you are ready to face me? Well you are wrong boy. No matter how many times you crawl back from the dead, no matter what the pathetic backwater world you reincarnate yourself on, I will hunt you down, and I will crush you beneath my feet!"**_ blades grew from his fist as he slashed at Adam faster than he could react.

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Adam bolted upright in bed, sweat dripping down his face ' _Every time I have that dream it gets more and more intense… But that voice… that_ _ **thing**_ … _It shook me to the core.'_ he looked over to where his alarm clock lay beside him ' _3:23'_ he looked over to where Bridgette lay sleeping beside him ' _Bridgette… I promised you after we returned home that I wouldn't let vengeance consume me.'_ he gently kissed her on the forehead and made his way into the living room of his apartment and sat down on the couch, staring at the ceiling as he drifted away with his thoughts ' _It's only been about 3 days since we got back from the Turtles dimension after the huge confrontation with Lord Dregg and the Newtralizer. I told Bridgette that I loved her and once we got back I even asked her to move in with me, she said yes and the night that she moved in we ended up… consummating our relationship. Wait why am I sugar coating my thoughts? She moved in and we had sex for the first time, at least I think we had sex. We were insanely careful though, we did everything that we should've done. Frankly I'm not even sure we had sex, or I wouldn't be if it wasn't for the fact that she was roaring like a velociraptor from Jurassic Park. Cody's still kind of mad at me for not telling him about the Ninja Turtles stuff sooner than I did, but it's kind of funny when he gets mad like that. I guess him and Gwen having sex and him losing his virginity before me probably helped with that. Still though, that thing I keep seeing in my dreams over and over again. I just don't get it._ It just doesn't make sense to me, what does it all mean?"

"Much more than you could imagine."

Adam whipped around and nearly froze in shock "No way… Carlos?"

Sure enough, before him stood Carlos, appearing as if he was good as new "Hola mi amigo pequeno. You need not fear me, I'm just here to talk."

"...Am I still dreaming or is this some kind of acid trip?"

"You are not dreaming and you are in your proper state of mind, what you see now is how I appear after attaining a higher spiritual plane of existence that only mi abuelo and the ancestors have achieved before me. Passing into death we merge with the whole of life itself, we become one with all of nature in all of the universe and in every dimension. Even with you."

"You saw what happened with Lord Dregg and the Newtralizer in the Turtles dimension. " it wasn't a question.

"Indeed. Whether your beloved had a hand in it or not you chose not to go down the path of vengeance and for that I am proud of you." he put a hand on Adam's shoulder "I know you face a heavy burden with this destiny that you are forced to bear but you must not forget,

"Carlos… I have so many questions that I've been wanting to ask you for so long. But first, I have to know this. You didn't really have cancer, did you?"

"Why would you ask such a thing?"

"I never told anyone about this except for Alejandro but you already knew, I have a sort of sixth sense that lets me sense people's energy so I would've been able to sense if you were dying. I know there was something else you weren't telling either of us, so what is it?"

"...It is true, I never did have cancer. It was the flu just as I had told you, but I actually got over that a few days after you left. However I could sense something dire on the horizon and I knew that my time had been near, so before Alejandro left I told him that I had cancer."

"You mean that you willingly turned him into the bastard that I was at war with all throughout Total Drama World Tour?"

"A decision of which I will admit that I am not proud, but even before then he was slowly but surely becoming more and more like Jose. I knew that this was necessary to make sure that he would never return to that path."

"That's another thing that I've been wanting to ask you about Carlos, did you always know that I was going to have these hurricane powers? That I was the reincarnation of a fusion of two cosmic monster? That I was going to team up with the Turtles and fight off filler villains in their dimension? Did you know all of this? Who is it that killed you and why am I going to have to fight them?"

Carlos breathed a heavy sigh and began to tell him the story "I know you have many questions, I promise I will answer as many of them as I can right now." he sat down on the couch "Please, ask any question you may have."  
"And I've got a lot." Adam touched the scars on his chest beneath his shirt "So how long have you known about this, since we first met?"

"That day at the bowling alley? No, it took me some time after then. Or to be more specific it was during your first conflict with Mal, when you struck him with that massive blast of lightning I knew that you were the one that I had heard about from mi abuelo, as well as Aurora, my teacher in the Mystic Arts. While you were recovering in the hospital I went to see her to discuss this and she all but confirmed my suspicions. You are the next reincarnation of Tempestatis and hopefully the one to slay Metallum and end the cycle, and bring peace to the universe." he put a hand on Adam's shoulder "But even then that did not matter. With you I have someone to whom I could pass on my legacy, mi abuelo's wisdom, the beliefs that we shared."

"You mean Alejandro, your brother."

"No, not my brother. My _brothers,_ both of them."

"Excuse me?"

"At first when I met you I saw a young boy whose heart and body had been scarred and who needed a friend, one who could be the influence that Alejandro needed to steer him away from the path of my other brother, Jose. But as time passed and I watched you heal your heart and grow, I saw you as my own younger brother and I felt that I was lucky to have you."

Adam stayed silent for a moment "So then… how did you die?"

"...It was the same day of young Cody's birthday, when I was contacted by Aurora. She told me something that shook me to the core: Metallum was coming to seek out M'Baku in order to steal his other Earth Lacrima in order to make himself even more powerful. And after that… he would kill you. I wasn't going to let that happen, so I went to confront him… alone, armed with nothing but my knowledge of the Mystic Arts and my powers of the Crimson Jaguar. I was able to damage him to some extent but nothing fatal, though I did manage to cut off a few of his blades and scar him across his heart and throw him off of a building. However, he took me from behind and ran me through with his blade, and he threw me to my death."

"Just like Splinter in Requiem."

"Si. Aurora had arrived too late to save me, so she took my body back to the hospital and asked my father, as well as mi primo Diego, to tell you and Alejandro that I had passed of cancer. I wanted to tell you the truth, I really did, but I knew that you couldn't find out until you were ready, when you had awakened your powers and had overcome vengeance."

"And now that I did you came back to tell me the truth."

"Si. And I watched you throughout your time in Sphaera Ignis, having been at the edge of your life you had received a great gift that very few of your past lives had been able to tap into and even fewer were truly worthy of. I am truly proud of you, mi hermanito."

"Thank you. I never asked for this power, but now that I have it I might as well do what I can and put it to good use. I can't say that I'm gonna be some sort of hero or great savior, but I will do anything I can to protect my friends. And while I'm at it I might as well make sure this Metallum learns a very important lesson. Nobody messes with my town, my world, or my friends. Don't worry Carlos, I promise you he's going down and I'll be the one to make sure of it. Not in the spirit of vengeance, but in the spirit of protecting the ones that I love."

"You must keep your resolve pure and tap into the light within, it is the only thing that can keep you safe from the dark forces that will come for you. I suspect you only have a matter of days before they come for you again."

"And I'll be ready for it."

"Ready for what?" that was when Cody came out into the living room "Adam who are you talking to?"

"It was…" he looked over and saw that Carlos had disappeared "It was no one, I just had another nightmare is all."

"About Mal again?"

"At first yeah. He appeared before me, trying to get a rise out of me like usual. But I didn't buy into it, I promised Bridgette I wasn't going to let myself be consumed by my anger and I'm seriously making an effort to make sure that doesn't happen. I told him straight up that I wasn't going to be consumed by vengeance and that he had no control over me."

"Adam that's great."

"Yeah… But yet despite what I promised to her, I can't help but wonder. Will I be able to keep that promise?"

"...You know I've always looked up to you Adam, and yet in all of these years I've never known you to be such a coward." that got a look from him "You know I still remember back when I first told Gwen about you."

"Yeah, back, in Egypt you mean."

"No, I told her back at Playa de Losers. It wasn't long after the end of the first season of Total Drama." they both shuddered.

"Not your best moment towards the end there."

"Tell me about it. Anyway it was a few days after the final challenge and before the whole thing with the case with the million."

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(3 years ago, at Playa de Losers. After The Very Last Episode, Really!, and before Total Drama, Drama, Drama, Drama Island)

Cody sat in a lounge chair at the pool of Playa de Losers, looking over a piece of paper time and time again ' _I just wish he would talk to me more often, I mean when your big brother is travelling around the world with the son of a diplomat and becoming some insane teenage version of Indiana Jones.'_

"Please tell me you're not looking at porn."

Cody jumped when he found Gwen standing in front of him "Oh hey Gwen. And no this isn't porn, it's just a letter from my brother Adam."

Despite wanting to just leave Cody to his business, Gwen was actually rather intrigued by this and sat down in the lounge chair next to him "What do you mean your brother? I thought you said you were an only child."

"Well by blood I am, biologically Adam is my cousin on my dad's side but we've been growing up together like brothers since I was 7. He isn't around much though, he's been travelling around with this son of a diplomat. His name is Carlos, I've met him a few times. Nice guy with a good heart."

"So your parents are cool with him just taking off like this?"

"They don't really care to be honest, truth be told they aren't really around that much. Adam is a little bit more but not by much."

"So why does he go off like that anyway?"

"...The poor guy has had a lot of bad luck in his life, mostly when he was 8. There was this crazy fire that burned down his home, his parents died in it too, and his best friend just up and vanished without a trace. I mean granted he came back a few years later but I still don't know where he was or anything about it, and Adam was pretty messed up for awhile."

"Messed up how exactly?"

"Some major scars both in body and in mind, not to mention that he didn't trust anyone, not even himself, for almost 6 years. I was the only person aside from Carlos he would actually talk to for ages, until he met this one guy in middle school. His name's Devin, he's a nice guy but he's kind of dense."

"As in Lindsay dense?"

"No she gets romance stuff, but when it comes to that he's dumb as bricks. But back to the whole thing with Adam, what else did you want to know?"

"So he's a nice guy then is he?"

"Oh yeah, and insanely tough and smart too but at the same time he can be pretty chill. If he was here then Heather would've been gone after what she did in the talent show, not to mention he and Leshawna would have either been best friends or worst enemies. Unlike me he's always been the popular one at school but he never let it go to his head, plus he's always the sort of take charge kind of guy in team challenges. You might not believe this Gwen but I never had that much confidence in myself growing up, and if it wasn't for Adam believing in me then I probably would never have come here to begin with." he gave a small smile "But if you want to keep it plain and simple then I guess you could say that Adam is the kind of guy that will go to the ends of the Earth and beyond for the sake of his friends."

"...Huh. So what does he say in the letter." she took it once he held it out to her and she read it out loud "Hey Codemeister, I saw you on the show. Tough break little buddy, losing the girl and getting mauled by a bear at the same time." she cringed at this part "But don't worry, knowing the spawn of Satan that is Chris McLean there's gonna be at least 2 more seasons so you'll get your chance to shine soon enough. But now onto the serious stuff. When you get home you and I have to talk, there's something really important that I have to tell you. Something that I should've told you a long time ago. See you soon Codemeister. Your bro, Adam." she handed it back to him "Yeah you're right, he's so nice it's sickening."

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(Present day)

Cody let out a sigh "Yeah and then you ended up getting us together."

"We've been over this before Codemeister." Adam used his old nickname "You were the one who decked me, even if I did totally let you win. But anyway I think what it is you're trying to tell me, you know me as the kind of guy who would do anything to keep his word or to protect his friends so I can't go letting you of all people down now can I?"

"That's the spirit, besides I promised you that I was gonna be right there alongside you. The only problem is that I don't have any insane superpowers so I can't fight alongside the Turtles against some evil bug lord like you can."

"...Are you still mad about that?"

"Kind of yeah."

"Just checking. Tell you what, tomorrow I'll take you to meet Aurora and see if she can teach you some stuff."

"For real? Like Doctor Strange?"

"Why the hell not? _If this guy is coming for me then I've gotta make sure that they're ready to defend themselves.'_

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Hours passed, and the sun was shining over the skies of Canada.

Aurora was with Dawn doing their early morning meditation "You must focus Dawn, do not let your attention flitter away from you for even a moment. All random thoughts are transitory like dreams, let them disappear into the void and bask in its vast emptiness." she closed her eyes, images flashing through her mind, and she suddenly began panting rather heavily "That… That is enough for now. We shall resume later."

"Is there something wrong mother?" asked Dawn "We only meditated for a few moments and you seem quite disturbed."

"I am fine my dear, I am simply rather tense from exerting myself more than usual as of the recent incidents. My dream last night… it was very powerful, and very ominous. I could sense another dire threat looming over the horizon. The Cosmic Elemental of Metal is coming, he is after not only Adam's life but also his power and if he succeeds in absorbing that power then he will be unstoppable."

"But Adam has already slain two of the Cosmic Elementals whether they were depowered or not and one of them was before he had discovered his powers. Surely he can defeat him if he awakens his full power and his armor correct?"

"I am aware of his potential my daughter, however even at his full capacity he will not be able to defeat Metallum alone, even if we were both to help him."

"But what of Alejandro?"

"He must reach his full potential as well, but even if the four of us were to fight together it is a risk that we cannot afford."

"So then what shall we do?"

"...We will have to risk everything and send them throughout the rest of the dimensions, it is the only way we will be able to emerge victorious. I must make a call with one who understands our plight and knows of the existence of our enemy and our only other ally of the same kind." she donned her battle attire and disappeared through a portal.

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The sun was shining bright over the city of Ocean Falls.

Adam was running through the city's park with Bridgette and sat her down on a bench "I'm not making this up Bridgette, Carlos really did appear before me last night and told me about these things. It's totally insane but totally true."

"I know you're not someone to make these things up but Adam but this really is a lot to take in all at once." Bridgette told him "Plus you're kind of rambling."

"I am not rambling, I'm just telling you a super long and overly complicated story that takes a long time to tell and a lot of stuff in one breath so- Hold crap I'm totally rambling. But what I'm saying is that what if Cody did learn the Mystic Arts like Aurora or Dawn or Carlos did? I mean these things can be learned so why not right?"

"But are you sure it's a good idea? I mean I know you want Cody to be able to defend himself but this is the sort of thing that takes years of training in order to master. I won't always be there in case something happens, I have to make sure you and the others can defend yourselves because if some other crazy supernatural threat shows up at our doorstep aside from me the only person who could stand against it is Alejandro, and if anything happened to you guys because I wasn't there or because I wasn't strong enough then I would never be able to forgive myself. I don't want to take any chances."

"Adam… I'll only agree to it if I get to fight alongside you guys too." she leaned in and kissed him full on the lips.

"...I don't get a say in this do I?"

"No you do not."

"Just checking."

"Adam, Bridgette." that was when Aurora revealed herself through a portal "I'm sorry to bother the two of you so soon but I must ask the two of you to come with me."

"What is it this time? More dimension hopping, another alien invasion of another dimension or something?" Adam's gaze hardened "It's these Cosmic Elemental things that Carlos told me about isn't it? The Metal one."

"He is coming, if he gets his hands on you then not only this Earth, but all 10 dimensions and the universe as a whole will tremble at his might. Carlos may have told you about the origin of your powers but we still have much to tell you."

"And who is we? Is there something else Carlos didn't tell me?"

"No, you have all of the information about your powers that you need for the time being. But on the other hand… Bridgette, there is much more to you than you realize."

"What do you mean?" asked Bridgette "I don't get it, what's going on?"

"I believe that there is someone more deserving to tell you of this."

"Who?" she looked through the portal and her eyes widened "No way… Dad?"

Sure enough, from the portal emerged none other than Colonel Daniel Connors of the Royal Canadian Air Force "Hi princess."

"Dad, what are you doing here?"

"Come on, there's a lot that you two have to hear about."

Aurora nodded "Indeed there is, however we must collect young Cody and Alejandro first. We will need all four of you if we wish to win this fight."

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An hour passed and the 7 of them, those being Adam, Alejandro, Bridgette, Cody, Aurora, Dawn and the Colonel, who shall now be known as Daniel, had gathered back at the Sanctum, also known as Aurora and Dawn's home.

Dawn displayed a visualization of the story of the Cosmic Elementals "When the dawn of the universe came there was nothing, but when the universe exploded into existence the Big Bang sent six conscious elemental forces hurtling across the new universe, across time and space. This is how the Cosmic Elementals came to be, they each control one of the six great elemental forces of the universe: Air or Wind, Water, Earth, Fire, Lightning and Metal. Each one holds within them two crystallized Cosmic Lacrima based on their elemental powers, one to keep them active and one to give them physical bodies. Their names are, or were for most of them, Tatsumaki, Kaiyo, Terrae or M'Baku as he later became known, Urere, Kaminari and Metallum, possibly the most powerful of them all. That is to say, before Tatsumaki and Kaminari merged their two completed Lacrima together into one to form the Hurricane Lacrima. When the cycle of reincarnation began, the Hurricane Lacrima is spiritually transferred into the soul of what would be Tempestatis in his next life."

"So then Metallum is coming for me." Adam muttered "He wants the Hurricane Lacrima that merged itself with my body and soul and that's what gave me my powers."

Daniel nodded "He is, he does and he's more powerful than you could ever imagine. He's a plague of unimaginable power, not to mention the cruelty. He and his forces invade planets, he takes what we wants, he wipes out ⅔ of the population just to satisfy his blood lust."

"So I've heard."

"And he's the reason why Terrae was sent to Earth and became M'Baku. The reason why he took the others back in Africa and you had to fight him, that was it."

"So this is it then."

"What do you mean?" asked Cody.

"Ever since what happened in M'Baku I've been wondering, what if there are other guys out there like him, guys that are even stronger than him? Not even Chef's Black Gorilla Blade would be able to stop him. All of the training I've gone through over the past 6 months, Sphaera Ignis time mind you, has been for this moment. He's coming for me, he wants my power and my blood and he won't settle for anything less than that. So what exactly is our timeline gonna for the arrival of the Cheese Grater from Hell anyway?"

"There is no telling." Dawn told him "He has half of the Lacrimas of Earth and Fire and both Metal as it is, with the equivalent of two completed Lacrima that already makes him the most powerful creature in the entire universe."

"So if he gets his hands on my Hurricane Lacrima…"

"Then he would be able to reach a level of power hither to undreamt of." Aurora finished, her tone grim.

"Did you seriously just say hither to undreamt of?"

"Do you seriously want to play the Tony Stark to the Doctor Strange of a 12th level master of the Mystic Arts?"

"...Yeah that's a fair point." he turned to Daniel "And what role do you have in this? Last I checked you didn't want anything to do with me."

Bridgette nudged him in the arm "Adam be nice, he is my dad and in the RCAF."

"Who hates on me over something that was a total accident. You know it's not like I don't want to get along with him for your sake Bridge, hell I even went to Geoff to ask how I could get him to like me and I came up with nothing. But then I realized something."

"Adam."

"Fine, I'll shut up."

"No, go ahead and say whatever you have to say." Daniel told him "And then I'll tell you what I know about this whole situation."

"I know what your kind is like, I've seen your kind all my life. You're the kind that thinks that doing the right thing doesn't matter if it means you have to break the rules. You think that if someone commits a crime then it doesn't matter if they had no control over what they were doing because in your eyes a criminal has to be brought to justice and once a punishment has been decided it has to be carried out no matter what. That's what you see as the rule of the law, in your eyes caring about your own friends and loved ones doesn't mean anything. Feelings and emotions have no value compared to the law in your eyes, as a colonel in the RCAF you're bound by duty to serve as an example for everyone in Canada so how could you enforce the law if you're not willing to obey them. That's something I could never understand and frankly I never will. You probably never thought about this because you've never been in a situation like this but I've seen people in that kind of trouble, people in desperate need of help. But people these days are weak willed cowards and fools, I know for a fact that if I go to your so called sacred law then they'll just lock him up and throw away the key! I refuse to let that happen, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure it doesn't. And if I had to then I'd run you through without a second thought." this left everyone silent, for they knew who he was talking about.

"...So that's what you think then is it?"

"That's what I know, in order to save my friend I'll fight the law with everything that I've got and if you try to stop me then I'll fight you too."

"I see. So it's not me you see as your true enemy, but rather what I represent. But while you may over exaggerate you do speak some truths, I do believe that even if you do the right thing it's no excuse for breaking the law."

"The Swindle books and Robin Hood would beg to differ."

"Anyway now we've gone over your problem with me."

"Yeah so spill it, what's your problem with me?"

"...With you specifically, nothing. But what you represent, it brings back bad memories of an issue that I had hoped would fade away with time, but try as I might I can't forget what happened 18 years ago."

"What are you talking about?" asked Bridgette "Dad what's going on?"

With a heavy sigh, Daniel slowly sat down in front of Bridgette and gently took both of her hands in his "Bridgette… there's something that I've been keeping from you for years, something that not even your mother knows. Before I joined the RCAF, I was a member of the Masters of the Mystic Arts and I trained alongside Aurora. We studied under the same master back then."

"You mean mi abuelo." Alejandro noted.

"I do. However, 18 years ago I tried to shed that part of my life because it held too many bad memories. Bridgette, When you were born, you were sick. Very sick, with an illness we knew next to nothing about, and still no one does even today. We feared that… that you weren't going to make it. We visited countless doctors and specialists and I tried everything that I could that I learned from the Mystic Arts, but none of them could do anything for you, and the situation was looking more and more bleak, so one night I just started driving. I didn't know where I was going, but I just needed to be alone so I could clear my mind. Then I got to that field with the really big tree outside of town, the one that people say has been here for years, and I just started crying and praying that god or someone or anyone up there was listening, and I started begging for them to save my daughter. That was when she appeared before me: Amphitrite, the Cosmic Elemental of Water. She wasn't like the Cosmic Elementals of Earth, Fire and Metal, she was one of the three kind ones who hadn't been corrupted by their power and she remained a kind soul, and she had offered me a deal: She would transfer into you a Cosmic Lacrima, a crystalized substance that enters one's soul and cannot be detected. It would give you the last half half of her cosmic power and more importantly it would save your life. In exchange, with her life force transferred into you with it came the responsibility to aid in the final battle against the most dangerous one of her kind: Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Meta. When the time came she would call for you and for the warrior of the Hurricane, the reincarnation of the fusion of Tatsumaki and Kaminari, the Cosmic Elementals of Wind and Lightning, and the final battle would begin. She gave me this keystone that was meant to glow and then she just vanished into thin air. I haven't seen her or heard from her since that day. For 18 years I've waited for this day, and for 18 years I had hoped it would never come. I never told your mother about this because I was so ashamed of it, it was the hardest decision that I ever had to make. I know that I had no other choice but still, in my heart I still feel the pain from all those years ago. And when your… boyfriend brought me back out here for your birthday, I knew right from the beginning that he was the one that Amphitrite told me about, and the reason why I reacted the way that I did was because it reminded me of how the day would come when I would lose my little girl, possibly forever, and I would be powerless to stop it."

Bridgette took a minute to soak everything in "I… I had no idea. Dad… you really did that for me?"

"I couldn't bare losing you. Bridgette, Adam, I'm so sorry. For everything."

"Daddy…" Bridgette caught him in a tight hug "You did what you had to do in order to save my life, I could never be mad at you for that."

"I know, but I still feared the thought every single day."

"I guess you're not as by the book as I thought." Adam muttered.

"You don't have to apologize."

"I wasn't going to." he received various looks "What? The guy has been holding over my head the whole plane thing, which was a total accident mind you, over my head for more than an entire year."

"...You get that one, don't get carried away."

"When I have I ever gotten carried away? Don't answer that, any of you. Anyway Aurora let's cut to the chase, what can we do to be ready for when Metallum arrives? Even if Alejandro and I team up with you, Dawn and the Colonel we'll need more manpower and firepower than that in order to take these guys and come out on top."

Aurora nodded "You are correct Adam, as you are right now you will not be able to defeat these foes. However, Bridgette and Cody have power sealed within them that they have not even begun to grasp. Bridgette has half of the Cosmic Water Lacrima within her body, it saved her life when she was an infant but it also bestowed her with powers she has yet to grasp or even comprehend. Cody on the other hand…" she put a hand on Cody's shoulder "You hold within you a power that you have held since the day you were born, a gift that not even Adam had noticed all of this time. However, in order to awaken this power you must accomplish a task of great importance."

"What do you mean?"

"Within one of the 10 dimensions lies a source of power gifted to only one warrior every generation, a dimension you should know all too well: A special location in an alternate version of ancient China known as the Valley of Peace."

Cody froze in his tracks "You mean…"

"In Dimension 3 of the 10 dimensions, the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom has overlooked the Valley of Peace for one century after another. However, for a good portion of that time but for much of that time the valley was anything but peaceful. The valley was ruled by Demons of the Underworld, and anyone who would dare to enter the valley was either driven out or enslaved, or they would be devoured by the demons. This continued until the fated day came when there was one who would dare to stand against the demons, a young tortoise by the name of Oogway. What none of them knew was that within Oogway burned a powerful force of life energy. A gift from the universe bestowed upon one warrior in every generation, which we have come to know as the Hero's Chi. With the power of the Hero's Chi Oogway was able to drive the demons back to the Underworld and use his magnificent gift to seal the way behind them. However, there was one demon that he had missed. This one was stronger, smarter, faster, and overall more powerful than the others. His name was Ke-Pa. Thirsting for vengeance over the loss of his demon brethren, Ke-Pa relentlessly attacked the exhausted Oogway without mercy, the only thing on his mind being to spill Oogway's blood over the valley. After a fierce and brutal battle Ke-Pa was ready to strike and deal the final fatal blow, however that was the moment in which something magical happened. As Oogway had protected the Valley of Peace, his home, the Peace Tree now protected Oogway in return. The powers of both Heaven and Earth blasted forth from the tree and not only restored his Hero's Chi, but it greatly enhanced it, which allowed Oogway to overcome Ke-Pa's evil demonic power. Stripped of his might, Ke-Pa swore vengeance and fled with the power of the Peace Tree of Heavenly Wisdom keeping him trapped in the form of a mortal body."

"So… what do I do?"

"I will take you to the Valley of Peace to aid them in combating this great threat, you must find the one who wields the Hero's Chi and then your true power will be yours to use as you so desire."

"...Woah. That. Is. AWESOME!"

"I was correct when I had anticipated your reaction."

"So what about the rest of us then?" asked Adam "I mean mystical potentially filler Kung Fu powers or not there's still Bridgette to consider."

"I am aware of that, she possesses power lying dormant within her, which is why Daniel and I shall be training her ourselves to master the water powers that she holds within her. As for you two, Alejandro and Adam, your destinies lie elsewhere in Dimension 1 and Dimension 2 respectively."

"What's in those dimensions?"

"In dimension 2 lies a formidable threat that their inhabitants cannot vanquish alone, if they wish to conquer this threat then you must aid them in the upcoming battle."

"And then after that?"

"Then you shall journey to the first dimension, in which you and Alejandro will face a foe of power unrivaled in that dimension, one that has inspired legends. That dimension is also where your true intended weapon lies."

"You realize that my true weapon is right here right?" he pointed to where Shatterstorm was strapped to his back "You know the main focus of my power and all that jazz?

"That weapon that you had previously dubbed as Shatterstorm was never the source of your strength, it was merely a tool to train you to harness and focus your powers that once laid dormant inside of you, whereas the rest of your equipment is intended to enhance your powers in order to face your foes and grow as a result of each battle in which you would be victorious. As soon as your growth with the weapon had been completed you would have to pass it onto the one being you trust enough to wield its power, which is but a fraction of what the user will be capable of if they should reach their true potential. The Shatterstorm does not wield the power of the Hurricane itself, it's true intention is to aid those with great dormant potential awaken their powers to the greatest extent that it can. However, before you can claim this weapon you must face this foe and then you will journey to the home of the Daagon in the Cosmic Ocean of Varuna, where the next piece of your armor lies: the Wind Stormers, a set of metal boots that enhance your wind powers and allow you to move faster than the speed of the wind itself."

"Woah, that's… woah."

"Indeed. As for your true weapon, the one that I had intended for you lies elsewhere, within Dimension 1, or more specifically with an old friend of mine. Your true weapon is a sword of terrifyingly devastating power, if it is wielded by one who is worthy then it cannot be stopped. This weapon is known as Ascalon, and their creator happens to be an old friend of mine from Dimension 1 and the one who created your Hurricane Gauntlets, the Wind Stormers and the other pieces of armor you will acquire at a later time. You may have heard of him, for he is known by the name of… Azmuth."

"...Eep."

"I imagined such a reaction."

"And what of me Aurora?" asked Alejandro.

"You young Alejandro, you have perhaps the most important test of all. You must confront your true self in a sacred place known only to the Masters of the Mystic Arts, and you must overcome yourself and then the ultimate power of the Crimson Jaguar will be yours."

"I see. Very well then, I shall accept this task."

"I'm glad to hear it." she turned her attention to Adam and Cody and opened two portals, one red and one orange "Cody the red one shall take you to your trial and Adam the orange one shall take you to yours, albeit with a much more… mystical entry."

Adam nodded "I get what you're saying, I'm in."

Cody slowly turned to face him "Adam, I guess… I guess I'm gonna go on my own now. Wish me luck."

"Screw that Codemeister, you don't need luck. Hey you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Bleach style sendoff like in the Hueco Mundo arc?"

"You bet your ass." they put their hands in together, and after he shot some looks at Bridgette and Alejandro they did the same "As we approach the decisive battlegrounds, believe that the blades of our hearts and souls will never shatter! Believe that our resolves will never waver! Though our paths may diverge, our iron hearts will remain as one! Swear that even if the land itself may break asunder, we will return alive and well! Scatter!"

"You got it!" and with that Cody jumped into the red portal and it disappeared at he did.

"That always gets his blood pumping."

"You truly think the world of him do you not?" Alejandro noted.

"Well of course he does, he's my little brother. He's got even more potential than me too, he just lacks the confidence to do it. He doesn't believe in doing this stuff on his own because he's never had to, now Aurora is forcing his hand and now he has to accept his weakness and move past his insecurities and move on."

"So… you're going to then?" asked Bridgette.

"Yep, if I've gotta do this so that I can get strong enough to protect you then that's what I'm gonna do." he pulled her into a tight hug and gently kissed her on the lips "Be strong until I get back and I promise you, I WILL be back." and with that, he jumped into his own portal.

' _I will… my love.'_ she looked over at Alejandro and the others "Let's go, we've got a lot of training to do."

 **A/N:**

 **The scene with Adam confronting Mal and that shadow figure on the dream plane is based on the scene from the Seven Deadly Sins: Signs of Holy War where Meliodas destroys the Goddess Horn. I thought it would be a good way to show the animosity shared between Adam and Mal (or the shadowy figure that speaks for Mal).**

 **That flashback scene with Cody and Gwen at Playa de Losers was just something I came up with on the fly when I was looking back at the first few chapters of the Rise of an Underdog.**

 **The idea of Bridgette's dad being a master of the Mystic Arts came to me when I started typing up his encounter with Kaiyo, the whole thing about following the rules was inspired by the character of Byakuya Kuchiki from Bleach. As for the whole rant between him and Adam, if you think about it then their ideas of doing the right thing and following the rules kind of contrast in terms of the whole thing with Mike and Mal.**

 **The idea of Adam and Cody getting sent throughout different dimensions is based on the Ultimate Drako story arc in TMNT 2003 season 3, I was going to just have Adam go to a few different dimensions but I wanted to give Alejandro, Cody and Bridgette some more spotlight too since they're all four of the most important characters in this trilogy. Bridgette and Alejandro however will be staying behind to train with Aurora to awaken her Cosmic Elemental water powers and enhance his Crimson Jaguar powers respectively. Each of the next 4 original chapters will focus on one of these four fighting through other shows which were mentioned before and what not. The order for the time being will be one race chapter and one original chapter, the pattern repeating itself.**

 **The Windstormers are a part of metal boots that cover the user's legs up to just below the waist, so as with a knight's armor they consist of a Sabaton (feet) Greave (front and back lower leg) and Cuisse (thighs). Them giving the user the ability to move faster than the wind itself and enhance Adam's wind based abilities is pretty much based on the abilities of the 8th Makluan Ring from Iron Man: Armored Adventures.**


	7. A Cosmic Knight to Remember

**(Takes place between during chapters 15-16 of the Ridonculous Underdogs)**

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" _Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and the Metallians and their ruler Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the wind and lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take their power for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, and in the process the homeworld of the Metalians, Metallum, was destroyed, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallum was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see Metallum fall for his betrayal. Unsatisfied by this, Metallum made a pact with the Cosmic Elemental of fire, Urere, to create a warrior of fiery pure evil simply to torture each reincarnation until it ceased. Until the day comes when Metallum is slain the cycle will continue and if that day never comes, the true spirit of the Hurricane will be lost forever to the memory of time."_

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A typical night for Team Tennyson, searching for the Forever Knights.

Ben Tennyson, world famous hero and jackass with the Ultimatrix, pulled out a Plumbers badge and got into contact "Alright guys what have you got?"

" _This is surveillance team 3, target B is on the move. I repeat, target B is on the move. What do you want us to do?"_

"Keep an eye on him and don't let him get away, we're on our way. Kevin."

"I'm on it." Kevin put his car into the next gear "So when we get there we take Vilgax out for good?"

"Kevin you know that's not the way we do things-" Ben was cut off when he received another message on his Plumber's Badge "What the? Azmuth?"

" _Ben Tennyson, I must discuss with you about a matter of utmost importance."_

"Now isn't a good time Azmuth, we've got Vilgax and Esoterica problems to deal with at the moment."

" _I am aware of the situation and I have taken action to make sure of the success of your mission not just in regards to these pitiful human fools who understand so little, but in regards to the master that they believe themselves to serve."_

"What did you do?"

" _It's not what I did, but what an old friend of mine did. A friend of mine from Earth of the 8th dimension had contacted my several weeks ago and informed me that a prophecy among her order, the Master of the Mystic Arts, and that the one to fulfill that prophecy has at last been found."_

"...You know after everything I've been through this has little to no impact, so you're bringing some ancient prophecy kid to meet us?"

" _No, he is already at your current destination. He shall be aiding you in your mission and he will fill you in on the details when you arrive."_ and then the connection shut off.

"Does anyone ever get a read on that guy?"

"Nope." was the simultaneous chorus from both Gwen and Kevin.

"Just checking."

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At the same time, the Plumbers team quickly hit Conduit Edwards and his Esoterica with a well timed ambush "This is the Plumbers, lay down your weapons. You will not be getting another warning."

"Is that so?" Conduit Edwards stepped out of the truck "Well then it's fortunate for us that we don't need any weapons." he and the rest of the Esoterica quickly phased between the dimensions.

"Men hold your positions, don't let your guard down."

That was when Conduit Edwards phased in front of the leader and took out the leader with an energy blast, with the Esoterica subduing the rest of them with ease "Excellent, all of you have served the mighty Diagon well."

"Yeah but there's one problem with that." that was when Ben, Gwen and Kevin showed up through the hole in the wall.

"Yet another group of naive fools who would dare to oppose the great Diagon."

"The only problem with that is that that's not Diagon, he's Vilgax. He's been playing all of you for a bunch of suckers."

"Be silent fool, how dare you even speak the name of our master!"

"Would it kill you to use your head, even if he really is your almighty Diagon which I've made clear that he isn't then why the hell does he need a truck in order to get around? Either you're either super gullible, in major denial or you're just really stupid."

"I said be silent!" Conduit Edwards fired an energy blast at them, resulting in a rather small explosion.

When the smoke cleared, it revealed Adam standing in front of Ben's team, equipped with his Hurricane Gauntlets with Shatterstorm in his hands, having taken the full force of the blast but wasn't even scratched "You see that's what you get for being reasonable with cultists, it's just a no win situation."

"You took the words right out of my mouth and made them even bigger." Kevin absorbed the material of a wheelbarrow and encased himself in armor "So who's ready to bust their heads already?"

"Not you guys, just stand back and enjoy the show while I deal with them." he didn't even have to look to take out an Esoterica from behind with a single kick, the same with several others as he advanced forward.

"You shall pay for daring to defy the great Diagon!" Conduit Edwards fired another energy blast at him.

Adam deflected the blast and dealt Conduit Edwards a sharp kick to the jaw, sending him flying through the roof of the building, which prompted the rest of the Esoterica to climb a set of invisible stairs "Okay I don't remember that happening."

"Hold on, let me shed some light on this." Gwen used her mana powers to reveal what looked like another dimension "They're climbing around on flights of stairs in some kind of parallel dimension."

"Yeah sure they are." and then Kevin got kicked around by a few Esoterica popping in an out of their dimension.

Adam blitzed behind Gwen and kicked out another Esoterica "You see this is why we listen to the smart members of the team, and where the hell did Ben go?" he looked over and noticed Conduit Edwards attempting to get away with the truck.

" **RATH!"** that was when Ben, now transformed into Rath, dropped down and stopped the truck with his bare hands despite being pushed back a great distance "Let me tell you something you goddamn condiment!" he bashed through the windshield and grabbed Conduit Edwards by the front of his robe "You ain't going nowhere!"

"That is where I would beg to differ." Conduit Edwards summoned a small button and pressed it, detonating the various explosives.

Kevin didn't even notice this until the Esoterica started to retreat "Hey where the hell do you think you're going you sons of- Oh. Oh crap."

"Hold on!" Gwen used her Mana powers to shield most of the unconscious Plumbers, which left the leader unprotected.

"I've got him!" Rath and Adam both leapt towards the last one just as the roof came down and the building exploded.

This gave Conduit Edwards the time he needed to get the truck with Vilgax inside and take off towards his destination "The time has come, the mighty Diagon will at last be restored to his full glory!"

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It wasn't long before everyone had gotten out of the wreckage mostly unharmed.

Adam laid down the injured Plumbers against another nearby building "They're pretty messed up but they should be alright, sorry I showed up too late to stop them from getting hurt like this though."

"No need for an apology." the leader waved him off "It comes with the territory and we're all professionals, besides we all got out alive and that's one of the most important things." and he walked off.

"He did once say that the most important thing was to come back alive no matter what, not for the sake of yourself but for the sake of those you would hate to leave behind."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ben.

"Just thinking about something my mentor told me, nothing you would be interested in."

"We'll decided about that later, first I've gotta thank you for helping us with those guys. If it wasn't for you then the Plumbers team I sent in could've been seriously hurt or maybe even killed."

"I just did what I thought was right, not all of us can be a hero with the most powerful weapon in the universe you know."

"Maybe not but looks like now I'm not the only one who met the creator, plus you're probably the only one who's offed a monkey god in Africa, blown up a plane and still walked away from a reality TV show with the heart of a gorgeous blonde surfer girl with an inhuman sex drive. Does that sound about right?"

"...You watch Total Drama? They have Total Drama in this dimension?"

"What are you kidding? A world without Total Drama is like New York without pizza, it's just not a thing."

"Yeah you've got me there." they shook hands as if they had a mutual understanding of each other "Seriously though, you watch Total Drama? Like for real?"

"What do you think I did during the four years before I slapped the Omnitrix back on? That show got me through middle school, not to mention it took me forever to convince Julie to watch it for the first time."

"Good to know, but fanboying aside we've got that one Esoterica over there to interrogate so we can find out what Conduit Douchebag is up to."

"Yeah you've got a point. Hey by the way, if you're fictional in this dimension then does that mean that I'm fictional in your dimension?"

"...Let's get back to the mission at hand." they made their way over to Gwen and the others "So what's the status with this guy."

"It looks like he's coming around." Gwen told him.

"Good enough for me." Adam picked up the Esoterica and pulled off his mask, revealing his identity "Oh gee Winston, what a shock."

"Wait seriously?"

"Well what do you know? Squire handsome." Kevin's tone was dripping with sarcasm.

"Are we still doing the jealous thing?"

"That depends on whether or not some real competition shows up, but frankly right now I'm just wondering what exactly a squire for the Forever Knights is doing hanging out with the guys from the Flame Keeper's Circle." he was answered by Winston's eyes suddenly glowing an ominous shade of green.

"My best guess is the glowing green eyes, that's never a good thing." Adam pointed out "For real though, unless the glowing green eyes come with some insane rage and spiky blonde hair glowing green eyes are always bad."

Winston shook off the glowing green eyes and looked over towards Gwen "Oh well hello there, you're quite the sight for sore eyes aren't you?"

"Oh yeah and all of us are thrilled to see you too." Kevin slammed him against a wall, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"What do you want with me?"

"What we want is information." Adam told him "How long have you been part of the Flame Keeper's Circle with the Esoterica?"

"Pardon?"

"The Flame Keeper's Circle and the Esoterica are followers of Diagon, or you might know him as the dragon."

"You must be daft."

"This coming from the guy wearing the tights of the enemy, just please tell me you've got your own underwear on under there."

"What do you-" he looked down "This… This shouldn't be possible, I must hurry and report back to Sir Driscoll at once."

"Oh yeah sure." Kevin let out a loud snort "Light we're gonna let that happen."

"Actually he's right." Adam cut in "As a matter of fact that's exactly what we want him to do, at the very least we can use him to lead us to the rest of the Forever Knights."

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At the same time, Driscoll was with Cyrus and the rest of the Forever Knights investigating a new weapon being shipped in "I wonder what this one is supposed to do."

"It can't be that bad as long as you don't push the red button." that was when Adam and Ben stepped out of the shadows "Any idiot who ever pushes the red button usually gets their ass handed to them."

"And that would be our job." Ben slammed down on the Ultimatrix and transformed into one of his new aliens " **Fasttrack!"** he blitzed through half of the Forever Knights that had almost immediately started shooting at them and disarmed them.

Adam on the other hand blitzed through them and cut down their weapons using his Hurricane Gauntlets alone "Not too shabby, that one's got more style than XLR8."

"You're no slouch either, you're keeping up with me like a pro. How exactly do you have these powers again?"

"Reincarnation shtick, I'll give you more details on it when this is all over with."

"Fair enough, we've got other pricks to deal with."

"Silence wretches, how dare you show yourselves here." Driscoll snarled.

"As much as I'd love to pound you into next week Driscoll we don't have time for any of that right now, we have a crisis and you have a problem with your personel."

"You're talking gibberish."

"Fine, you don't have to take our word for it Sir Dickhole." Adam pointed to where Winston was being brought in by Gwen and Kevin "Looks to me like your boy Winston hasn't been feeling like himself as of late."

"What did you do to him?"

"Don't get your medieval panties in a bunch, we didn't do anything to the kid. He's been under the control of the Diagon, or the dragon as you guys know him."

"Is that so?"

"Please my liege, I beg for your forgiveness." Winston fell to his knees "Myself and my weakness have brought great dishonor to the Forever Knights."

"...The squire of Sir Cyrus is a traitor to the Forever Knights, Sir Cyrus you know what to do about this."

"Indeed I do." Cyrus slowly advanced forward and prepared to execute Winston with a small dagger.

However, Adam snatched the dagger away faster than any of them could follow "And it looks like your metal thongs are already up your asses, the kid didn't have any say in the matter so lay off of him."

"What do you mean?" asked Driscoll.

"You remember that cave with the Forever Knight seal on it, the one Cyrus and his boys busted open and it released that Lucubra? Winston was one of the ones who fell under its mind control powers just like Gwen over there and that means that anyone else who was near there could be under Diagon's control even right now."

" **Yes…"** sure enough, at that moment the so called Diagon took control of Gwen in order to communicate with all of them " **You are such simple creatures, so easy to manipulate and bend to my will."** he (or she, frankly I'm just gonna refer to Diagon controlled Gwen as them for the time being) cast a glance over towards Adam " **But you… you are so much more than the rest of your species. You have the potential to become the greatest of all, not just this world but all of the universe, all of reality could be at your disposal."**

"Take it easy Gwen, you're starting to scare me a little bit." Kevin was answered by _Gwen_ charging two blasts of Mana "Okay now you're scaring me a lot." and then he was blasted through a wall "Ow…"

" **But there is a pretender, an imposter who has laid a false claim to my name and my followers."**

Ben was quick to realize what they were referring to "You mean Vilgax conning the Esoterica and the rest of the Flame Keeper's Circle by pretending to be you."

" **Yes… He plans to steal the source of my power: my heart."**

Driscoll's scowl only deepened "The witch has been possessed by this creature, strike her down now!"

"Cool it tin man!" that was when Kevin rose back up in wood armor "You might make her melt all over you."

" **Heed me. If your Vilgax acquires my heart, he will have power enough to rule over your universe."** they cast a quick glance over towards Adam " **Unless you tap into your full potential even you will grovel before his might."** and with that, Diagon released his control over Gwen and let her collapse to the ground.

Kevin caught her before she hit the ground "What the hell was that? Was it that Lucubra thing that came through the seal before?"

"No, that was definitely not it." Gwen muttered "The Lucubra was an insect compared to the likes of… it was Diagon and he's right, if Vilgax gets his hands on Diagons powers then he'll be unstoppable."

"Which raises a hell of a lot of questions." Ben pointed out "How could Vilgax steal something like the heart of Diagon in the first place, and how could Diagon even be alive without a heart anyway? I don't understand."

"Well of course you don't." Driscoll let out a scoff "You've never understood anything about us or our noble mission."

"Then educate us." Adam blitzed in front of him "Or I might just have to to educate you in my way of getting answers."

"Your threats do not scare me boy." and yet he did so anyway "The heart of the dragon is the essence of the life force of Diagon and our founder, the first ever Forever Knight, captured it long ago. Perhaps you've heard the story of Saint George and the Dragon. Over the course of many centuries many cultures have laid claim to this tale embellishing it in various different ways, however this is what actually happened. Sir George was the most noble of knights, he served his king but he defended the helpless wherever he travelled. One day while in a far off land he had heard tale of a hideous creature, a monstrous dragon, derived without warning and out of thin air. Anyone courageous or foolish enough to challenge it was met with a brutal demise or became a slave to its will. Sir George confronted the beast without fear, the dragon tried to seize control of his mind but his will was far too strong. The power of the Diagon was formidable yet Sir George fought onwards and using his mighty sword Ascalon he cut out the heart of the beast but still it refused to be claimed by death. The first Forever Knight cast the creature back into the hell from once it first came and sealed it inside, now separated from its heart which was the source of its unnatural power. So long as the heart of the dragon is pierced by the sword the Diagon cannot regain his full power, and we are safe."

"That depends on how you define safe, but either way we have to make sure Vilgax doesn't get his hands on the heart."

"That is easily said but in order to protect it we will first have to find it."

"And how do we do that exactly?" asked Ben.

"Those who have fallen under the spell of the dragon built a shrined around the heart, it travels between our world and that of Diagon and it never appears twice in the same place."

"But Sir George would know where to find it." Adam pointed out "We might as well just ask him, from what I can tell you yourself know that he's still alive and well. Am I right or am I right?"

"...How did you know?"

"The way you speak makes it sound like you know him on a personal level, he's some kind of immortal or maybe eternal youth?"

"His life has been bound to the sword Ascalon, he cannot die nor can he question him. You would be wise not to do so."

"I don't have the time or the patience to argue protocol with you Driscoll, just take us to where he is."

"The first knight has been missing for days and we know not where he has gone to."

"Then let's not waste anymore time and just find him already."

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So despite his clear reluctance, Driscoll showed Adam, Ben and the rest of them to a certain set of quarters in the base "These are the quarters of the First Knight but we cannot decipher these ruins."

"No wonder Ben keeps making you his bitches." Adam let out a snort "This is just calculus, I might be a fighter but being mentored by the son of a diplomat. What did they not teach you math in the Forever Academy or is that not a thing? Yeah back up a second you guys, I've got this." he spent a few minutes going over the equations "Well he's the first knight for a reason, he definitely is one genius son of a bitch though."

"What do you mean?" asked Ben.

"These equations are him trying to calculate the coordinates of the next place Diagon's shrine is going to appear in this dimension." he wrote down the coordinates "My guess would be about four hours from now."

"You have all been most useful, however that usefulness has reached its end." Driscoll quickly fired at Ben and the others and knocked them out cold.

Adam didn't even flinch as he felt the blast hit him in the back "You gonna try and break out the big guns?" he received a stunned silence "That's what I thought. Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill any of you guys for the attempted double cross but I'm not gonna let you take out Ben or the rest of them either. If you want them dead then you'll have to go through me."

"...Very well so be it, they may still be of use to us. For now we must find Sir George and hurry to his side."

"And I'm coming with you and the rest of them, I have a few things I want to talk to him about anyway."

"Fine, but do not get in the way of the mission for which myself and the rest of the Forever Knights have spent our entire lives preparing or I will cut you down without hesitation. Do you understand?"

"You say that like you can." and so Adam walked out of the room with a seething Driscoll right behind him.

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Sir George stood overlooking a cliff by the sea, his mind wandering ' _The time is near, the battle for which I have spent 1,000 years preparing is at last upon me.'_

"M'Lord, at last we have found you."

George looked back and found Driscoll and the rest of the Forever Knights, along with Adam, all standing right behind him "How is it that you are here?"

"We tricked the Tennyson boy and Witchling and alien abomination comrades before, as well as this one here." he pointed at Adam.

"Correction, you trapped them while I was finding the calculations that you guys weren't smart enough to figure out." Adam pointed out dryly.

"Silence you arrogant insubordinate child, you are not fit to-"

"Be silent Driscoll." George promptly shut him up "None of that matters now. We must destroy the heart of the dragon, finally and forever."

"The shrine is up ahead." Adam pointed to where the shrine was appearing ahead of them "Are you gonna be okay or do you need to borrow this." he held out Shatterstorm.

"Thank you young one but my weapon likes in the shrine, it is long since time that I retrieved it once more."

"Fine then, I'll respect your wishes." he lowered his voice "The squire back there is being controlled by Diagon." he pointed to where Winston disappeared between dimensions "Should I say anything to the others?"

"No, Driscoll anc Cyrus will most likely attempt to execute him. Winston is but a boy, what he does for the Diagon is not in his control."

"At least you're more sensible than the fools who follow you."

"And I can sense in you a strong sense of justice supported by an iron will, as well as power that rival that of the great dragon itself."

"So what then, you think I'm an abomination like the rest of your lap dogs do? I'm a full blooded human from Earth of another dimension, I'm just the reincarnation of a powerful being from many eons ago."

"The Cosmic Elementals, beings that have existed since before the very universe itself. One of them appeared before me, that being Amphitrite, the Cosmic Elemental of water that shares the same name as the goddess of the sea herself. Just as the creator of the sword Ascalon entrusted it to me in order to defeat Diagon, she entrusted to me one of her two Cosmic Lacrima. It was absorbed into the blade of Ascalon and as a result whoever should next wield it will have that power at their disposal. If the one known as Vilgax should acquire that power then he will become nearly unstoppable."

"So the full power of a Cosmic Elemental, how does Diagon compare to it exactly?"

"The power of the dragon is nearly omnipotent as people would refer to it today, the power of the Cosmic Elementals may very well be the only source of power aside from myself and my sword Ascalon that can vanquish it."

"And if we don't stop Diagon in this dimension then chances are he'll come for my dimension next and if I die here then I doubt even the likes of Aurora and the others will be able to stop him, if we're gonna stop Diagon then it has to be here and now."

"Very well then boy, let us go and destroy the heart of the dragon." and so they forged onwards towards the shrine "There was one other thing that Amphitrite told me."

"And what would that be?"

"One day a warrior would appear that bares a great burden as well as unrivalled power, born from the fused souls of two more of her kind, and that the battle he faces will decide the fate of not only his world, but of all worlds and all of reality."

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Soon enough all of them were inside the shrine.

Adam looked around and shared a subtle nod with Sir George just as several Esoterica soldiers started to burst out from the wall paintings "It's an ambush, take them down!" he turned out to be the only one capable of taking them down as the other Forever Knights were easily swatted aside by the Esoterica "So you gonna come at me or what?"

"You shall pay for defying the great one!"!" Conduit Edwards charged at Adam and fired an energy blast.

Adam deflected it back at him without even batting an eye "You clearly don't remember how this went a few hours ago." he dealt Conduit Edwards a sharp kick to the face, sending him tumbling down the hallway "Alright First Knight, now is your cue."

"So it is, you have my thanks." as he punched out an Esoterica standing behind him without batting an eye, George slowly made his way towards Ascalon plunged into the massive heart in front of him, until…

"Stand aside!" Vilgax suddenly threw George aside with one of his tentacles and weakly pulled himself up to the heart, and once he gripped the handle of the sword he was almost instantly restored to his original form, but once he pulled the sword out of the heart he was engulfed in a blinding light. When the light it subsided, it revealed Vilgax in his original form with the sword in hand, now encased in a suit of armor provided by the sword, and the heart of Diagon had disappeared "Incredible, this power is absolutely magnificent!"

"You charleton, you dare to deceive us!" Conduit Edwards charged at Vilgax and prepared to fire an energy blast at him.

With a sniff of dismissal, Vilgax simply waved his hand and blew him away, sending him and the rest of the Forever Knights and Esoterica, with the exception of Adam and Sir George, flying away and crashing into nearby walls "The power of this sword, it feels unlike anything I've ever felt before! And yet despite it, I can sense that there is more."

" **Yes…"** Winston appeared before him, still under the control of Diagon " **There is infinite power waiting for you. However, in order to gain it, you must break the seal. Only then will the power be yours."**

"...Tell me more."

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At the same time, Ben's team was on their way to the location of the shrine in their Rustbucket 3 ship.

Ben looked back towards where Gwen was huddled up to herself in the back "Whatever it was that took control of her back there messed her up pretty bad, we've gotta do something about this."

"You take the controls, I'm gonna go talk to her." Kevin told him.

"No let me try, she is my cousin after all. Just keep going and get us to the shrine as fast as you can." he received a nod "Okay good." so he made his way back towards Gwen and knelt down in front of her "How are you holding up? Stupid question I know but I can't just let you shudder in silence anymore, you wanna talk about it?"

"I feel sick." Gwen muttered "It's like my entire soul wants to vomit."

"Well with the way Kevin flies this thing it's a good thing I haven't turned into UpChuck yet or…"

"Would it kill you to please just be serious about these things just one time?"

"I'm sorry, I'm just trying to help."

"That thing was in my head Ben and it was controlling me like I was some kind of puppet. I can't even tell you how disgusting that felt to me. Why didn't I fight it?"

"That's like being angry at yourself for catching the flu, this kind of thing isn't your fault. If you should blame anyone for this then just blame me, I'm the one who took as long as I did to put everything together with the Forever Knights, the Esoterica, Vilgax and now Diagon. I feel like such a screw up right now."

"None of us saw it."

"Yeah but I'm supposed to be the hero."

"If we're voting on who to blame then I vote for Ben." Kevin offered his two cents from the pilot seat, earning a small smile from Gwen.

"Oh yeah sure, it's okay when he jokes around in a crisis situation?"

"In his defence, his jokes are actually funny. You on the other hand-" Gwen suddenly let out a cry of pain.

"Gwen what is it, what's the matter?"

"I can see the seal, Vilgax is trying to head towards it and Adam is fighting him. Sir George and the rest of the Forever Knights followed him and they're all trying to stop him and… They're down, Vilgax just blasted them with one hand and almost all of them are down. Driscoll, Cyrus and most of the knights are all… George is barely standing and Vilgax is beating Adam down pretty bad. His armor got peeled off, his weapon thrown away, and now Vilgax is pulverizing him."

"Are you sure they're at the seal? That's thousands of miles away from where we're heading right now."

"Even if we leave the atmosphere and come back down it's still gonna take us more than an hour to get there." Kevin pointed out.

"Then we've only got one other option, Gwen I need you to teleport us to where the seal is right away."

Kevin had his own opinion on this matter "What are you out of your gourd? She can barely do that when we're standing still but now she's sick from Diagon, we're going thousands of miles per hour and we're in the Earth's atmosphere! It's way too dangerous."

"Well it's not like we really have a choice."

"We?!" Kevin grabbed Ben by the front of his jacket "What the hell do you mean we? You're the one who was so busy playing hero that he missed the bigger picture and there's no way I'm letting you risk her life now because of your grand f*ck up!"

"That's enough Kevin, let it go." Gwen pulled herself to her feet "I can do it, besides it's not like we have any other options." she grabbed Kevin and Ben by the hands and teleported them out of the ship.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The scene at the location of the seal was looking grim, with Sir George unconscious on the ground and the corpses of Driscoll, Cyrus and various other Forever Knights littering the grounds of the cave.

Vilgax was continuously using Ascalon to cut away at the seal "Just a little more and then ultimate power will be mine!"

"No… not in… this lifetime…"

Vilgax looked back and watched as a heavily injured Adam staggered towards him "You still intend to stand against me?"

"You have… no idea… what you're messing with…"

"I know exactly what I'm doing child, you are in no position to defy me. I have already defeated you twice in the last 10 minutes alone, you are powerless before my newfound might. Just give up."

"...Give up? You're telling me… to give up?" despite coughing up blood he continued to inch his way forward, his body beginning to crackle with electricity "You can give up… on me… ever… giving up… I don't care… how strong you might be… But I keep fighting… not because I think… I'm stronger than you… or stronger than the others… A terrible monster… has been terrorizing me and my friends for years… and my friend is suffering because of him… I have to keep fighting… I have to keep getting stronger… for the sake of my friends… for the sake of the people I love… I won't lose… at the very least… not… to… YOU!" his body began crackling with crimson colored electricity, his eyes and hair beginning to change color, until he let out a furious roar and he was engulfed in a pillar of light.

George lifted his head up and gave a small smile of approval ' _At last the boy has begun to grasp his full potential.'_

Sure enough, when the light vanished it revealed Adam, his hair now the purest white, his eyes blazing a shade of electric blue, with blue and white glowing markings now visible on each arm and each leg, his body crackling with golden colored bio electricity. He took a minute to regain his sense of awareness "Woah, just… woah."

That was when Ben and the others dropped down onto the scene, with Gwen passing out just as they hit the ground "No way, this is unreal."

' _I can feel the power coursing through me, it's growing bigger by the second like I'm just scratching the surface of a bottomless well of power!_ Ben listen to me, I want you and the others to stay back. I'm gonna handle this one on my own, don't get in my way on this one."

"...Fine." Ben shared a nod with Kevin and the two of them, along with an unconscious Gwen, backed off.

"You made a grave mistake in pissing me off Vilgax, now you're dealing with me on one of my bad days. Out of respect for the original owner of that sword I'll dub this new power… the Cosmic Knight!"

"The only who made a mistake here is you boy, you're even more foolish than Tennyson to challenge me with my new power!" Vilgax turned away from the seal and charged at him with Ascalon still in hand.

Faster than any of them could follow, Adam blitzed behind Vilgax "Now to see the new power output that I'm capable of. **Cosmic Lightning… ELECTRIC FIST!"** he fired off a powerful blast of lightning, hitting Vilgax dead on " **Cosmic Tempest CLAW!"** he followed up with a wind powered kick to the skull, knocking his helmet off, leaving him vulnerable to the blast of lightning that followed up, causing Vilgax to cry out from the pain.

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Ben and the rest looked on in awe "You've gotta be kidding, he's plowing through Vilgax like he's nothing! Even one of my ultimate transformations couldn't plow through him like that, I mean granted Ultimate Waybig probably could but not like this."

"Gaze upon him young master Tennyson." Sir George limped his way towards them "This is what it looks like when a warrior chosen by the hand of destiny reaches his full potential. You may wield the most powerful weapon in the universe created by the likes of Azmuth, however what you see now is the truly most powerful warrior in the universe."

"No kidding. He won't last long though, it's not very clear but he's definitely starting to slow down one bit at a time."

"He was gravely wounded by Vilgax beforehand and yet he is still capable of such a level of power, that simply goes to show you just how far he will be able to go given enough time."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Adam continued his furious assault against Vilgax, slamming one wind and lightning attack into him after another "This is for all of the innocent people you've killed in your foolish quest for power, and this is for ever even _thinking_ that I'd give up! I'll never give up, not to you, not to the Diagon, and especially not to HIM! NOW BURN IN HELL VILGAX!"

"I don't think so boy!" Vilgax thrusted Ascalon forward and fired off what appeared to be a sort of energy chain, binding Adam's hands and burning them severely "Your power is impressive Son of Ander, but what can you do with your hands tied? Now you're defenseless against my power!"

"...Do you really think that I need my hands to take you down?" Adam broke free of his bonds with ease "And this is one technique that I've been saving for a special occasion." he took in a deep breath and began drawing on both wind energy and lightning energy, his body practically glowing from the power he was summoning " **Cosmic… Hurricane… ROAR!"** with every ounce of strength he had left, Adam fired a massive blast of wind and lightning combined into one source of power, the blast slamming straight into Vilgax and blowing him clear out of the cave, which nearly caved in as a result of the blast.

Ben, Gwen and Kevin were all left absolutely speechless at the sheer display of power that they had witnessed.

Now completely exhausted drained of any strength he may have had left, Adam's appearance returned to normal "I told you… I'd never… give up…" his legs finally gave out and he fell forward.

George caught him before he hit the ground "A most admirable performance, you truly do embody the spirit of a knight who protects what he believes in."

"I guess… I kind of got carried away though… When I looked at Vilgax I started to see the one that took the lives of my parents… the one who tortured my friend for years… and something inside of me… it just snapped…"

"Yeah that tends to happen." Ben and the others made their way over to him "You know if I used that much power in one go then I'd wanna just pass out too, way to stick it to old squid face though. That was seriously awesome."

"Yeah… it makes you feel… like you're on a power trip… but that kind of power… it's too much for any normal person… But at least… he's finally down…"

"Down perhaps, but by no means am I out." a voice thundered, causing almost all of them to freeze in place.

"No… But that's… impossible…"

Sure enough, Vilgax emerged, clearly heavily wounded with his Ascalon armor badly damaged, but he was still alive and well "I must say that I am impressed boy, you are capable of generating far more power than even Ben Tennyson ever did."

"Hey!" Ben let out an offended yelp, only to be ignored.

"Now if you peons would do the smart thing for once and get out of my way, I have ultimate power to collect." he swatted them aside with a single sweep of his hand and advanced back towards the seal as a light began to shrine through the cracks.

" **Yes…"** the voice of Diagon echoed throughout the cave " **Break the seal Vilgax, do it and your reward will be more power than you could ever imagine… Do it."**

"This power shall be mine!" Vilgax thrusted Ascalon into the crack in the seal, resulting in a tremor that shook the entire cavern "Yes, hear me Diagon! I am Vilgax, I am the conqueror of 10 worlds, and soon I shall rule all of the universe, for your powers shall belong to-" he was cut off as the light grew brighter and he suddenly cried out in agony, causing Gwen to erect a barrier as the light encased the entire cavern. When the light finally subsided, Vilgax had completely disappeared, leaving only Ascalon behind.

Gwen took this chance to let down her barrier, leaving her panting heavily "I barely have enough strength left to stand."

"Welcome to the club." Adam promptly coughed up some blood and fell flat on his back, struggling to stay conscious So where's Vilgax?"

"Looks like he's gone." Ben noted "So does that mean we won?"

"No… far from it…" Adam coughed up some more blood as his vision began to fade "The only won… who won anything… was Diagon… he got Vilgax… to do his dirty work… and now he has his heart back… along with Vilgax himself…" and then the last of his strength faded and he finally passed out.

"Is he gonna be alright?"

Gwenn quickly checked him out "He's just weakened, a little bit of rest and he'll be fine. But we have other problems to deal with right now."

"Yeah I know, now Diagon has all of his power again."

"Rest assured young ones, this situation is far from hopeless." Sir George stood up and slowly made his way towards the seal "Once again the Ascalon is in my possession, and now the three of you shall bear witness to what the dragon saw." he gripped the handle of the sword and the blade began glowing with a bright light, encasing him in armor and restoring his long lost youth as a result, restoring the first Forever Knight to his original glory once more "Let the dragon come, for when he does I will be ready to defend this world and all who live in it." he removed his helmet, revealing his long flowing golden hair.

"My god, I don't believe it. You'd think he would have helmet hair."

"My secret for that is actually quite simple. I condition. Now then, if you wish to genuflect then now would be the best time to do so."

"Save it pretty boy." Kevin let out a snort "I'll genuflect whenever and wherever I want to genuflect."

"Kevin." Gwen hissed, shutting him up outright "To genuflect means to kneel down to him, not… I don't even want to know what you think it means."

"Oh. Well either way it's still not gonna happen."

"We're gonna need you to put the sword down." Ben told him.

George turned to face him as he removed his grip from the sword "My apologise Young Master Tennyson but I cannot do that, Ascalon belongs to me. It is mine."

"That's where you're both wrong." that was when Azmuth stepped out of the shadows and revealed himself, with Aurora right behind him "That sword belongs to me."

"Azmuth, hold on a second is that really your sword?" asked Ben.

"Hence the use of the word mine Tennyson, try to keep up will you?"

George was not amused "I haven't the time to banti words with you Azmuth, the same being said about you Lady Aurora. The monster that has plagued me for 1,000 years hides within that seal in front of us. Now at long last, this ends!" he donned his helmet, drew Ascalon from its sheath and charged forward into the crack in the seal.

"...Well it should take him at least a few moments to realize that now that the seal has been broken and Diagon has his full power restored he can enter and exit this dimension whenever it chooses." Aurora knelt down and placed her hands on Adam's chest as they began glowing a shade of white.

"So what's that supposed to do?" asked Ben.

"It's a healing spell derived from the Mystic Arts in my dimension, his injuries will be fully healed but he will still be suffering from a great deal of exhaustion."

"Not surprising considering the amount of energy he put out in that fight with Vilgax, I can't believe he took all of that."

"Hence the power of my sword." Azmuth pointed out "Again Tennyson you really should try to keep up, this is a slow day even by your standards."

"He's not the only one." Adam force himself to his feet, now only semi conscious compared to before.

"So how are you holding up right now?" asked Ben.

"My wounds are healed but I still used way more power than I'm used to, I never thought that the sword could make someone so powerful. And to think that now Diagon has even more power than that, I never thought I would be so useless against guys like them."

"It certain broadens your horizons young master Anderson." George made his way out from the crack in the seal.

"That was a pretty quiet dragon."

"It is long gone, apparently now that the seal has been broken the Diagon can enter or exit this dimension wherever and whenever it desires."

"Then there's no need to prolong this foolishness, return my sword to me." Azmuth told him "I do not intend to ask again."

"I cannot let go of this sword while the Diagon still lives, if you want then you will have to take it from me."

"And you believe that I can't? Look who you're talking to! I am Azmuth, I am the creator of the Omnitrix, I am the sculpture of worlds, I am the smartest being in five galaxies! Of course I can take it from you!... Ben Tennyson take it from him!"

"As if you had to ask." Ben prepared to slam down on the Ultimatrix.

"Ben hold on a second." Gwen tried to stop him "Something doesn't seem right about this whole thing-"

"Gwen Azmuth is telling me to fight, there's no way I'm passing that up!" he slammed his hand down on the Ultimatrix and transformed " **Fasttrack!"** he blitzed forward.

George simply held out one arm and knocked Fasttrack into a wall "You would've been wise to listen to the girl."

"...I thought that would go differently."

"No it's still cool, he loses way faster than XLR8."

"Will you shut up?"

"No, it's not my thing."

"So I've noticed." George noted.

"Yeah you and a bunch of others." Kevin suddenly blitzed behind Kevin and grabbed him from behind.

"Let go of me boy!"

"Make me you old geezer!" he tugged on George's hair, only to be thrown off and slammed into a wall.

"You would be wise to respect your elders stripling. And by the way, hairpulling? Seriously? You fight like a girl."

"Wrong!" Gwen hit him with a barrage of Mana blasts "I'm the one that fights like a girl, keep that in mind."

"So I will." George fired a blast of energy from Ascalon, sending her flying into a wall "And that should take care of that unless the rest of you-"

" **Humungousaur!"** that was when Humungousaur charged at him.

George simply unleashed a blast of wind from the sword, blowing Humungousaur away and sending him crashing into the cave wall.

"Well… that sucked."

"I commend your efforts young ones but now I am losing my patience with this game, you would be wise to stand down."

"Yeah like you really believe that's gonna happen."

"You cannot say that I failed to warn you." so he held up Ascalon as the blade began glowing, turning Humungousaur back into Ben "To destroy after such commendable efforts would be most dishonorable, especially when you are unaware of the stakes. To say nothing of the true power of the sword." he cut open a portal with the sword "But remember this, I have no intention of letting you get in my way."

"Rather flash for you is it not?" Aurora snapped her fingers and the portal shut "You always did enjoy showboating." she opened her own portal "Come, I believe that there are many things that we have to discuss."

"So there is Lady Aurora." so George and Aurora entered the portal.

Adam looked back at Ben and the rest of the team, though at Ben more specifically "I'll heard what George has to say and then I'll be back, and when I do come back I've got some things I want to talk to you about." and he walked into the portal, leaving Ben and the rest of them to question Azmuth.

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The portal opened within the main halls of the Sanctum.

Alejandro looked up from where he was doing some push ups to see Adam and the rest of them emerge from the portal "That was quite fast, you've only been gone for about an hour and a half or so. Bridgette is still undergoing her training with her father."

"What kind of training exactly?" asked Adam.

"To awaken her water powers and to overcome the doubts she keeps in her own heart, at least that is the objective." Aurora told him.

"So nothing that puts her life at stake?"

"Nothing of the sort, not yet at least. You on the other hand have another matter to deal with at the moment." she pointed to George "I shall leave you two to discuss the matters at hand while I take Alejandro to begin his own training." she grabbed Alejandro and the two of them disappeared through a portal.

"So what are we supposed to talk about, the fact that you're almost 2,000 years old or the fact that you're gonna be throwing your life away to stop Diagon?"

"I suggest I give you a short answer for both." George sat down in one of the chairs in the corner and gestured for Adam to sit across from him "I was born under the name of Georgius, a Roman soldier in the year 231 A.D. nearly 2 millennium ago. The how of it is a story for another day though I would not wish to have been blessed with immortality if it meant living to see mankind be eradicated, we had no weapon that would allow us to stand against the Diagon or its Lucubra minions. That is until Azmuth appeared to me and granted me this." he held up his sword still in its sheath "He described this sword as a weapon of terrible power, if it is wielded by one who is worthy then it is virtually unstoppable."

"And he never bothered to use it himself be he doesn't believe himself to be worthy, mainly because that sword destroyed an entire planet. I accepted the sword and became the first true Forever Knight with the gift that had saved humanity. After I defeated the Lucubra and the other knights under their control I went on to face the Diagon on my own. I cut out the heart of the creature and left the sword buried in it for over 1,000 years."

"But then Vilgax happened." he touched the new scar that had formed on his chest "From what I've heard it was pretty gruesome."

"Such thoughts are irrelevant when you fight for the sake of those you have sworn to protect is it not?"

"Does the sword let you read minds too?"

"No, but I do know a worthy soul when I see one."

"So you don't hate all aliens like the rest of them?"

"I merely tell them what they must hear, I need their allegiance in order to slay the Diagon when the time comes."

"And Azmuth wants the sword back from you because he knows that the Diagon won't underestimate you a second time?"

"He believes that I will likely never reach my target and that the power of the sword will overwhelm me within a matter of days."

"And if you and the rest fall then Diagon will go on to come to this dimension at some point right?"

"Precisely. You are now aware of the stakes, which does raise the question: Do you intend to stop me?"

"...Like we agreed, if you and Ben Tennyson and the rest fall then Diagon will come to this world and conquer it for himself. You defeated Diagon once before so you've earned the right to try and stop him again. I'll see if I can convince Ben Tennyson and the rest of his team to let you have your chance, but if you should fail then the sword will belong to me and I'll take Diagon down myself."

"So we have an agreement. I must make preparations for the battle to come but I shall return, I have much wisdom to pass onto you if I am to trust you with my Ascalon in the event that I should fall." he cut open a portal with Ascalon "Farewell young master Anderson, I shall organize my armies and I shall return within a matter of days." and so he disappeared into the portal.

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Hours passed in dimension 1, and things had long since come full circle.

Kevin let out a grunt as he leaned against the wall of the cave "So we stuck our asses out like that for nothing."

"It was for anything but nothing." Ben told him "This way we have at least two chances to take out Diagon before it takes over the Earth. George has earned the right to try it his way since he's the one who beat Diagon the first time, Azmuth I don't think you should've tried to stop him before."

"You could be right." Azmuth noted.

"I mean George says that Adam and I are both like him and you say that I'm like you and I'm just trying to- Wait a second, did you just say I'm right? Oh god maybe the world is coming to an end."

"I said you _could_ be right and it's not as if I've never made mistakes in my life as I've now shown you. All of the reasons I told you as to why I built the Omnitrix and Ultimatrix, they're all true. But there was one more reason and this was the real reason why, I was hoping that _she_ would notice."

"So you did." Ben looked up "You hear all of that okay Adam?"

Sure enough, Adam emerged from the shadows and appeared before them "Loud and clear. Now then, a deal is a deal Tennyson so let's talk somewhere more private."

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1 hour, 45 minutes and 7 smoothies (2 by Adam, 5 by Ben) later…

Ben let out a loud belch as he downed yet another smoothie "So you're telling me that they have an entire TV franchise about me in your dimension?"

Adam let out a sigh "Yep. Alien Force and Ultimate Alien are where the shit gets good but after that they hit… Omniverse. I mean it's not bad but the new animation style is super cringeworthy and some of the plot points that they make up are just brain hurting levels of bad. And don't even get me started on that reboot that came out back in 2016. It's mortifying."

"Vilgax with the Omnitrix mortifying or mom stare mortifying?"

"...Yes."

"Good to know." the mood turned darker as they switched topics "So everything that you've been going through was for the sake of this one battle against this one guy?"

Adam's mood turned grim "Yeah. That's what I've been doing since day one, preparing for when he shows his face again. He's been torturing my best friends for years, and the nightmares I keep having about him don't help any. I promised the woman I love and my little brother, you know that I'm talking about Bridgette and Cody, and on the grave of me mentor Carlos that I wouldn't let myself be consumed by vengeance."

"Well that's good isn't it?"

"On the surface yeah, but despite that I can't help but wonder. Will I be able to keep that promise or will my anger and hatred for Mal take me over and cost me everything? I already know that I can never be a hero like you if I hold this much pain, anger and doubt in my heart, so the possibilities still exist. Even after everything I've been through I still can't help but wonder, can I do this?"

"...I don't think you're looking at this the right way."

"What do you mean?"

"Look man, if there's one thing that I've learned since I got the Omnitrix six years ago it's that being a hero isn't so black and white, it's about having the strength of both heart and will to make the tough choices. Anger, fear, doubt, temptation, hell even hatred, I feel those feelings creeping up inside of me every single day. I don't know if this is gonna make a lot of sense but it's okay to feel those things, as long as you don't let those feelings get in the way of doing the right thing. Look I'm not gonna pretend I understand a thing about all of this Cosmic Elemental stuff but just think back to the people in your life that you want to protect more than anyone else and that should be enough to steer you back in the right direction. I know that's how I keep pushing myself down the right path."

"...You know I think you might have the right idea. Thanks." he put down a few dollars "That should be enough to pay for it, as awesome as this has been I should get going."

"Back to your Earth then?"

"I don't really know. As much as I've love to stay with you guys until the whole thing with Diagon and the Esoterica is resolved I can't. Diagon and Vilgax weren't wrong you know, as I am right now I'm not strong enough to help win this fight. That power that I tapped into in my fight with Vilgax, I have to learn to tap into it at will."

"But you'll be back?"

"When the time comes to take Diagon down I'll be back and I'll be stronger than ever before, plus I'll have backup. Not like it'll be that hard though, I've already saved the Shadow Realm of the 9th dimension from the Giant Monkey Man so this oughta be a piece of cake in comparison to that. Until we meet again, Ben Tennyson." and with that, he disappeared back to his dimension.

"Until we meet again, Adam Anderson."

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter is based on A Knight to Remember and Solitary Alignment, two episodes of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien. I was going to do the movie Ben 10: Alien Swarm but I thought that this was a better fit considering how Adam can relate to the similarities in his situation with Mal to Sir George's situation with Daagon.**

 **Total Drama being a famous show in multiple different dimensions is something that I mentioned in chapter 3, the War for Dimension X. I figured why not keep it going at least over the next few dimensions or so, that way people would already know who Adam is.**

 **Adam being in the Shadow Realm of the 9th Dimension was a reference to whatever came up with the Shadow Realm joke (I think it was Yu-Gi-Oh, if I'm wrong then let me know what it actually was) and him defeating the Giant Monkey Man and saving the 9th Dimension was a Spongebob reference.**

 **The Cosmic Knight form, as Adam had dubbed it, is essentially his version of the Super Saiyan transformation from Dragon Ball Z, which he awakened at the last second just like how Goku attained Ultra Instinct -Sign- for the third time in his final battle with Jiren in the Tournament of Power. This will not be the last time this is used though, it's essentially his trump card but it does have drawbacks. Like we saw here, it has a great physical toll on the user. Keep in mind that awesome power or not Adam is still human and he does have his limits.**

 **Sir George accompanying Adam back to his dimension was an idea that popped into my head and I just decided to roll with it. I always found George's character interesting and I never really saw him as evil so I decided to have him come in as a sort of mentor figure to Adam. Plus I shifted his overall character around just a little bit just to make him somewhat more likeable.**


	8. Enter the Dragon

**(Takes place between during chapters 16-17 of the Ridonculous Underdogs)**

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" _Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and the Metallians and their ruler Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the wind and lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take their power for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, and in the process the homeworld of the Metalians, Metallum, was destroyed, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallum was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see Metallum fall for his betrayal. Unsatisfied by this, Metallum made a pact with the Cosmic Elemental of fire, Urere, to create a warrior of fiery pure evil simply to torture each reincarnation until it ceased. Until the day comes when Metallum is slain the cycle will continue and if that day never comes, the true spirit of the Hurricane will be lost forever to the memory of time."_

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" _The Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom has overlooked and protected the Valley of Peace for hundreds if not thousands of years, but for much of that time the valley was anything but peaceful. Demons of the Underworld ruled over the valley in darkness and anyone who had dared to enter was either driven out or devoured in an instant. This endless cycle continued until the day came when someone had dared to stand against the hordes demons, a young tortoise by the name of Oogway. What none of us knew was that within Oogway burned a life force fuled by a very rare and unique power, a gift from the universe bestowed upon one single warrior in each generation known as the Hero's Chi. With this incredible new power at his disposal, Oogway was able to drive the demons back to the Underworld and use his Hero's Chi to seal the gateway behind them. But two demons remained, and these two was stronger, faster and smarter than all of the others their names were KePa and Long. Thirsting with a burning desire for vengeance over the loss of their demon brethren, KePa and Long both attacked the exhausted Oogway without mercy and without any hesitation. The battle was fierce, but just as the demon was ready to strike the final fatal blow, at that very moment something magical happened. As Oogway had protected the Valley of Peace, the Sacred Peach Tree now protected Oogway in return. The powers of both heaven and Earth blasted forth from the tree and overcame the combined demon power of KePa and Long."_

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Two figures sat in a simple tavern in the Bamboo Forest of China, one of them being a grey pig and the other being a white leopard, telling the story to a group of bandits consisting of water buffalo and crocodiles "With both of them stripped of their might, KePa and Long both vowed for vengeance and fled, with the power of the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom keeping him trapped in mortal bodies. One of them being the body of a pig, and the other being the body of a leopard."

"Wait hang on a second." one of the water buffalo cut in "So you mean you two are these demon guys KePa and Long?"

"That we are." the leopard, this being Long, gave him a simple nod as the pig, KePa, fraily took a sip of his tea, only for all of those present to burst out laughing, much to their disdain, but they both remained stoic ' _Your time will come you worthless peons, just wait and see. Soon you will fully understand what we are truly capable of.'_

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A typical day in the Valley of Peace, and as the name implied, everything was peaceful just like it was meant to be.

Po was scatting and vocalizing his way through the village like he was on top of the world "The panda is on top!"

"You're the best Dragon Warrior." one of the villagers praised him.

Po promptly saved one of the villagers from being crushed by pottery "You alright Mrs Yoon?"

"Oh yes, thank you Po."

"Shoo be doo bop! You know I feel like I've heard of that somewhere before. Oh well, doesn't matter now." he turned to a certain merchant "So are they here yet?" he received a head shake for the negative, which prompted him to do some more scatting.

That was when the Panda Pals rushed up to him "Hey Po come on, we want you to test us some more!"

"Okay but this time I'm gonna give you guys a hard one. I didn't cross the Hinterlands of Jao Dzuh-"

"Oh oh I've got it, that's you beatin Temutai using an improvised fighting style based on your tempestuous friendship with princess Mei Li."

"As oddly specific as that is, yes that's correct."

"What are you kidding me?!" a new voice barked out

"Sorry little guys but I gots to do what I does best." and so he rushed off, unaware of the coming darkness that would soon envelop the Valley of Peace, one that only he and one other would be able to stop.

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As it turns out, Fung and his former Croc Bandits were getting beaten around by a couple of angry water buffalo bandits even though they were dealing a few blows "For crying out loud, you try to start an honest pottery business and then your old buddies try to steal it from you. This is why I put off us going straight for as long as I did."

"Oh get real Fung, you were never a real bandit." the leader of the group just shoved him aside and snatched up their cash box "You see that's how you rob a worthless piece of trash like you, you make it quick and painless."

"I wouldn't be too sure about the painless part." that was when Po revealed himself sitting atop the cart.

"...Oh crud."

"So we're up for the usual today? Good, that's my favorite." so he started beating down the water buffalo and smacking them around like a bunch of rag dolls "Are they here now?" he received another head shake from the merchant and promptly went back to beating down the buffalo and threw them all into each other before tying them all up and reclaiming the money in a spectacular fashion, albeit landing with a very painful split in the process.

Fung gladly took back the money "Thanks for the backup Po, you know I did say before that we were gonna go straight. You okay?"

"Fine, just… a little bit crunched is all." he was helped back to his feet by a certain figure from behind "Hey thanks I… Peng?"

Sure enough, Peng stood before him carrying a sack over his shoulder, which he promptly dropped and bowen in respect "It's good to see you again Dragon Warrior Po, my dearest and closest friend."

"The same to you, so what brings you back to the Valley of Peace? I thought you and Lian were off spreading your Kung Fu Club around China."

"I was, but I came back because I sensed something dire looming over the horizon. I wanted to do what my uncle couldn't, use my kung fu skills to help people."

"Well I'm glad to hear it, but there's nothing looming over the Valley of Peace while the bodaciously awesome Dragon Warrior is in charge!"

"...You never change do you Po?"

"It's my thing not to change, but anyway right now today is a very special day." he turned back to the merchant "Oh come on man, they've gotta be here now."

The merchant shook his head "Sorry Dragon Warrior, they're still not here."

"Oh come on!"

Then an old pig got his attention "Excuse me but will you sign my chest?" he pointed to a large green chest sitting next to him.

"...You know what Peng you go ahead and head on up to the Jade Palace, I'll just stay down here for a little while and enjoy the moment."

"If that's what you think is best then I'll go and meet up with Master Shifu and see what he thinks about this."

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Shifu watched Po make a fool out of himself through a telescope "Just look at him, it's like he was born to make a fool out of himself in front of a large crowd."

"Po is just having some fun, why shouldn't he enjoy the attention?" Monkey received his answer in the form of Tigress punching him in the gut.

"Enjoying the attention is fine Monkey but the problem is that Po is getting caught up in being the Dragon Warrior, and that means that he is losing sight of what made him the Dragon Warrior in the first place."

"I'm afraid that is the least of your concerns at the moment."

Shifu looked up to see Aurora materialize in front of him, with Cody by her side, and he bowed in respect "Lady Aurora, to what do I owe the honor?"

"Nothing good I'm afraid." she gestured over to Cody while he was looking somewhat apprehensive "This boy Shifu, I've brought him to help you with the crisis at hand. They are coming."

Shifu froze "You mean…"

"Yes. Be diligent Master Shifu, only with all of you working as one can you hope to vanquish this threat." and with that she disappeared, leaving Cody behind.

"...So you are the one that Lady Aurora has put so much faith in."

Cody still seemed rather nervous "With all due respect I consider that faith to be misguided, I don't hold any potential or anything like that within me. My brother holds all of that potential not me."

"A lack of confidence, we will have to fix that. But for now…" he looked over "I had hoped that we would have more the time. The Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom… it's end will mean the end of the Valley of Peace, perhaps even China, as we know it."

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The water buffalo and croc bandits were still beating Long and KePa around like they were a bunch of rag dolls "Looks to me like the so called kings of demons aren't such a big deal after all now are they?"

Long was about to reply until he and KePa suddenly felt a surge of energy and they rise back to their feet as if nothing had happened "The tree, it's dying."

"At last, our time as come." as a crimson glow surrounded their bodies as they advanced on the bandits, not even giving them any time to scream.

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Po was still making an ass out of himself in front of the rest of the village "And I call this one the two buns of granite!" he spun around and clenched his buttcheeks, leaving the crowd to awe and causing the Panda Pals to faint "Yeah I know, I'm awesome."

"They're here Dragon Warrior, they're finally here!" the merchant went over to Po with a large box.

"They're here, they're here! They're finally here!" Po rushed over and snatched the box out of his hands "I've worked my whole life for this one moment, and now at long last that moment has finally come!" he held up one of the objects in question, leaving the rest of the crowd to look on in pure awe "At long last I have my own officially licensed, factory made, mint condition Dragon Warrior action figures with seam! Look at me, my awesomeness knows no bounds and no limits!" he posed in front of his statue and threw out a volley of his action figures, earning cheers from the rest of the villagers "Alright you guys go ahead and bask in how awesome I am while I go and show these to Peng and Shifu and the guys." and so he rushed off, leaving the villagers to continue cheering for him.

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The scene on the Peach Tree Hill was grim.

Shifu had had to explain to Cody, Peng and the Furious Five about the situation regarding the dying Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom "I'm sorry but that is the way that it is."

"Guys guys, guess what!" that was when Po showed up with his box of action figures "You'll never guess what just- Hey what happened to the Peach Tree?"

"I'm afraid that the Peach Tree is dying Po, but I assume that you already knew of this what with all of the meditating that you told us that you've been doing up here."

"Uh… Yeah here's the thing, I might have slightly exaggerated the amount of meditationage that I said I had been doing."

"You've been busy catering to your adoring fans and showboating." Cody muttered.

"Well people do love themselves a good deal of Dragon Warrior so- Hey Shifu quick question, who is this guy?"

"This young man is named Cody, he has come to assist us in the crisis we currently at the behest of Lady Aurora, one of the Masters of the Mystic Arts on the 10 dimensions." Shifu told him.

"Oh. Huh. Oh oh oh my god I totally forgot, just a few minutes ago I finally achieved my number one lifelong dream!"

"You've achieved humility? Oh wait no, that's my dream."

"No, it's me!" he pulled out one of his action figures, only for it to be swatted away "Hey not cool, I mean sure it's not an exact likeness but-"

"Enough of your prattling panda." Shifu turned to Peng and the Furious Five "You all know what you have to do." they bowed and left, leaving only Shifu, Po and Cody.

"So where are all of them going?"

"I've instructed them to prepare the antiquities of the Jade Palace for transport."

"Wait what, why?"

"The knowledge and wisdom that has been kept within the Jade Palace must endure in case we are unable to stop them."

"Stop who?" asked Cody.

"The two greatest threats the Valley of Peace has ever known, KePa and Long."

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Long stared at the burning remains of the tavern and watched as KePa emerged from it through the smoke "Rather over the top was it not?"

"You say that like you would be any different." KePa pointed out dryly "But either way it feels incredible. At last our power is beginning to return to us, when the tree at last dies we'll both be back to full power."

"And then the demons shall reclaim the land that was stolen from us. First we shall conquer the Valley of Peace, then all of China and then finally the very world itself."

"...You are still talking to me right? You're looking at that bamboo tree over there but you're facing the big rock in front of it."

"Stop trying to mess with my mind, let's just go."

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Po followed Shifu and Cody up into the main hall of the Jade Palace "Shifu wait up, hang on a second?"

"What is it?" Shifu didn't bother turning around.

"Since when did you ever teach us to run away from a fight?"

"We have never faced any foes as powerful as Long and KePa, but then again I assume you already knew that what with all of the studying of the Sacred Scrolls that you claimed to have been doing."

"Okay maybe I've been slacking off on my meditating and my studying and my training but there's more to being the Dragon Warrior than all of that stuff."

"Like what?"

"You did see the action figures before didn't you?"

"...I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."

"Oh come on, don't you think you're overreacting a smidge? You keep saying that we've never fought anyone like KePa, well KePa has never fought anyone like yours truly. All I have to do is unleash some of my bodacious awesomeness on him and he's as good as gone-" he was silenced by a cold glare, but not from Shifu.

As it turns out, Cody was the one shooting him a cold glare "This isn't some joke or your run of the mill thug, we're dealing with actual live demons that will kill you the first chance that they get."

"Hey easy calm down little buddy, it's not like you've gotta fight them on your own."

"...That's just it, I am alone. Look for as long as I can remember it's always been my older brother doing all of the crazy stuff like fighting thugs, saving the world and all of that. I was always just on the sidelines or the occasional sacrificial pawn or kidnap victim because they were trying to get to him, I know I always promised that I would stand by him every step of the way but I never thought I'd actually have to fight."

"So then why did you come here instead of him?"

"You mean aside from being caught up in the heat of the moment? Because there was a part of me that wanted to prove that I had what it takes to stand with him, but now that I'm here I realize that I'm in way over my head. I can't do this alone."

"Welcome to our world." that was when Peng and the rest of the Furious Five "So what do we do next Master Shifu."

"At the moment KePa and Long are most likely on their way to free the rest of their demon brethren." Shifu noted "Because of this we have to-"

"Hang on a second." Po cut in "If these guys want to free the other demons then won't they just go to that mountain that Oogway sealed up."

"And this is why you need to study." Cody pointed out "We're on that mountain, Oogway built the Jade Palace on top of the seal in order to keep it safe, even I know that and I've been in this world for less than a day."

"Wait what, the demons are here?!"

"...I choose not to dignify that with a response." Shifu noted for the second time that day, and likely not for the last time "All of you will head out in different directions, our only hope is that one manages to intercept KePa and Long before the Peach Tree dies and they regain their full power. But under no circumstances are any of you to fight him alone." he gave each of them battle horns "Only as a group will the nine of us have a chance, if you should find him then sound your horns and the rest of us will come running." he received a gesture from Po directing at Crane "Or flying." then one at Viper "Oh for- You know what I mean now go, time is of the essence."

"Right!" and so the eight of them prepared to take off, only for three of them to be stopped at the last second "Panda, Peng, Cody, not you three. Peng, Cody, I need you to address a serious issue that must be resolved before KePa and Long are located." he looked at Cody more directly.

Peng quickly caught onto what he meant "I understand Master Shifu. Cody come with me, I think it's best if you and I do this now." and so he took the quiet Cody and left.

"As for you panda, I need you to go tell the villagers to pack up their valuables and run for their lives. They need to understand that even the formidable Dragon Warrior is a match for the demonic powers of KePa and Long."

Po seemed very reluctant "Hang on a second, isn't that kind of bad for my image and all that jazz? I mean-" he was promptly grabbed by his belly flab.

"This isn't a joke panda! Do you think I give a flying fig about your precious image? This could be the end of all of China!"

"...Fig?"

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3 ½ minutes later…

Po finally stopped falling down the stairs to the Jade Palace "Ow, I swear they get longer every time I go down them. No maybe that's just the concussion." he looked down at the action figure in his hand "These two demon guys can't be all that tough, if he was then Shifu would've sent me with the others or at least sent Peng with them too."

"Po, Po over here!" Mr Ping rushed up to him "Son you haven't been around the noodle shop lately, it would be great if you could come by and shake some hooves."

"We may have to put that on hold for the time being dad. Hey everybody listen up, I've got something to tell you!"

"Alright!" a lot of villagers started gathering around "Is it you retelling the story of how you first beat Tai Lung? Oh no, tell us about how you defeated Lord Shen!"

"No no no, those were all pretty cool but-"

"Pretty cool? Come on Po, you never lose. You beat Hundun." this was met with cheers "You beat Scorpion." this was met with more cheers.

"Wow, I…"

"You helped Fung and the Croc Bandits to go straight." hell even Fung was met with cheers for that one.

"Huh. You know I guess I kind of haven't ever lost to anyone, that is so cool!"

They cheered again "Yeah it's wicked bodaci-awesome! So Po, what is it that you wanted to tell us?"

"Oh yeah, that. You all have to know that…"

"Yes?"

"That Shifu wanted me to tell all of you that… that wherever and whenever evil should rear its ugly evilly head your unbeatable Dragon Warrior will never let you down!" he was met with cheers, unaware of the evil presence looming ever closer.

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The Bamboo Forest was so quiet it was unsettling.

Peng led Cody to a small clearing in the forest complete with a simple river and a beautiful waterfall "Here we are."

"What is this place?" asked Cody.

"This is where I trained myself in the ways of Kung Fu based on some scrolls that my uncle left behind, and it's where I come when I need to clear my head."

"So then why did you bother to bring me here?"

"Because I need to talk to you about your own personal pride."

"My what? Look Peng people have called me a lot of things but I'm not really proud of anything about myself, I mean if you look at other people like Po or-" he received a hand held up to his face.

"That right there is exactly your problem Cody, what you lack is any confidence in yourself and in your abilities. You don't believe in yourself because you don't believe in anything that you've accomplished. You have to fix this as soon as you can or else one day you're going to end up second guessing yourself and then you'll end up making a fatal mistake that will cost you everything."

"I know that." Cody hung his head "For ages I've heard people tell me that I need to have more pride in myself. First there's my brother Adam, then my girlfriend Gwen, and now I'm hearing it from you. That's the thing though Peng, I know myself better than anyone else and who I was in the past isn't worthy of praise in the slightest."

"That's all in the past now, you can't let what you were back then dictate who you are in the present and who you're going to become in the future."

"But you don't get it Peng, I was a complete and utter waist when I was a kid. All I did was let myself get beat up every day when I was in middle school until Adam started protecting me after he got over his crippling depression, a whole other story so please don't ask, I kept absorbing every insult thrown my way, and I even failed to act invisible. Not even my own parents gave a damn about me, whoever said that your parents had to love you was a filthy liar! Adam was the only one who truly cared about me for ages, and now he's off doing god knows what while I'm here being useless."

"Enough of that!" Peng gripped Cody by the shoulders "Cody listen to me, you have to calm down."

"I… sorry, I don't know where that came from."

"A strong sense of repressed hostility, you must have been holding it inside of you for all those years. You had it rough as a child, I can't pretend that I understand what you went through but I had it rough too. The difference between us, well aside from species, years Kung Fu training and being related to a vicious monster, is that I learned to accept my problems and push past them, and grow stronger as a result. What I'm trying to say right now is that you were a work on progress when you were little and you're a work in progress now, but what really matters right now is that you're getting better."

"But… I'm still weak, whether I imagine it or not I feel my weakness every day. Does it ever go away?"

"At some point it does but before that can happen you have to accept that it's there, only then will you be able to push past it."

"Yeah… Yeah I guess you're right."

"Yes I suppose you could push past it, or you could both die trying." a deep voice filled the air around them and the air turned thick.

"...Peng."

"I know." Peng's voice was soft, barely a whisper "Don't make any sudden movements or he may end up killing us both on the spot."

"Right." they both slowly turned around "Tell me, are you Long?"

Sure enough, before them stood Long in his leopard form, only now his body had been surrounded by a glowing crimson aura "In the flesh, such as it is. A temporary condition I can assure you."

"What do you want with us?"

"Well it's quite simple, we're going to conquer China and you, Cody Anderson, are one of only two pathetic creatures who could possibly stop us. I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen, so nothing personal but you're going to have to die." faster than either of them could follow he blitzed forward and stabbed Cody in the chest with his claw, causing him to cough up large amounts of blood in a violent fit.

"Cody no! You're going to pay for that!" Peng dealt Long a fiere barrage of punches and kicks, knocking him to the ground "You're not going to hurt any more innocent people!" he aimed to finish it.

Long blitzed in front of Peng, grabbed him by the ankle and started repeatedly slamming him into the ground in the same way that Hulk did to Loki "What's the matter cub, no more rage filled snarling? No angry roaring? Where is your family spirit?"

"Don't… talk about… my family…" Peng struggled to get to his feet and coughed up a little bit of blood, and he was promptly knocked out cold with a sharp kick to the jaw.

"Well you have spirit I'll give you that, but clearly spirit is the best you can muster. You have no chance of victory against me, not that you ever had a chance to begin with." he unleashed a blast of dark energy, sending Peng flying away through the air "That's one pest down, now to deal with the actual potential threat."

"Why…" injured but still able to move, Cody stumbled his way towards Long before collapsing at his feet "Why… are you… doing this…?"

"The question of the century, not really. The question isn't why child, it's why not. Once KePa and I release our demon brethren who's going to stop us? Not the tortoise Oogway, not your so called Dragon Warrior, not your big brother the Warrior of the Hurricane, and most certainly not you. Now as fun as this has been, I have to run upstairs and see some old friends so I'll have to cut this short. Farewell, child." he fired another dark energy blast at Cody at point blank range, incinerating a good portion of the forest in the blast.

When the blast actually subsided, Cody had completely vanished, as if there wasn't even any dust left behind.

"What a shame, even in this cursed mortal body I don't know my own strength. But I suppose it doesn't matter, once the Peach Tree dies then the real fun can begin." and so he nonchalantly walked off towards his goal: the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom.

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Shifu placed a gentle hand on the dying husk of the Peach Tree "Please old friend, hang in there for just a little bit longer."

"Talking to a dead thing eh?" a deep voice mocked him from behind "You know that could be considered a sign of insanity."

Shifu whipped around to find KePa and Long standing before him "KePa! Long!" he prepared to charge at the two of them.

KePa stopped Shifu with a simple wave of his hand using his telekinesis "Well at least the rat recognizes us so that's better than nothing I suppose." he swatted Shifu to the ground with a simple wave of his hand.

"So it's true." Long looked up at the Peach Tree "Dear Peach Tree that has been here for thousands of years, you really are dying." this was followed Shifu blowing on his battle horn as hard as he could "Are you going to deal with that?"

"As if you had to ask." KePa levitated into the air and started choking Shifu to death using his telekinesis "None of you know when to give up do you?"

"Yeah no, it's not really our thing." that was when Po arrived on the scene, with the wounded form of Peng slung over his shoulder "Now put my master down before I get mad, and you won't like me when I'm mad. Or when I'm hungry, you wouldn't like me when I'm hungry."

"Oh my, well we wouldn't want that to happen now would we?" KePa dropped Shifu onto the ground "Hey Long let me take this one will you?"

"Do what you please, just remember that I called dibs on the boy." and the Long suddenly dropped off of the edge of the Peach Tree Hill and into the abyss below.

"You know something Panda, I think you and I got off on the wrong foot earlier. I'll tell you what, go ahead and take your best shot and then we'll call it even."

"Po no, don't!" Shifu's cries went unheard.

"Shakaboobie!" Po charged at KePa and dealt him a spin kick to the torso, knocking him back into the Peach Tree, causing the last peach blossom to fall off of its branch, killing the Peach Tree completely, much to the horror of Po, Shifu and Peng, especially as the now dead husk of the tree turned black.

KePa's grin turned malicious "Oopsy, looks like you've really done it now panda." he let out a maniacal cackles as his eyes began to glow crimson and he began to stumble backwards until he fell into the abyss below, followed by a crimson colored blast of electricity from within the clouds but even that quickly died down after a moment.

"...Oh yeah, that's how the Dragon Warrior does things! You mess with the panda, you get the belly flab!" Po started scatting and vocalizing again.

Shifu was quick to kill the mood "Panda."

"I mean technically the both of them fell off of a cliff but we still won."

"Panda."

"Another big victory for the Dragon Warrior-"

"Po, stop it." Peng cut him off "It isn't over. Look down." he pointed to the ominous red lights and booming noises coming from beneath the clouds, followed by a massive shadowy figure revealing itself.

"...Oh crud."

Sure enough, from the abyss emerged none other than KePa, now in his true form, that of a massive crimson dragon " **Behold, for I am the** _ **real**_ **Dragon Warrior!"** he breathed out a blast of fire, only for it to be reflected by a blast of dark energy to deflect it.

" **I believe that title is reserved for me and me alone."** and then from the abyss emerged none other than Long, now taking on the appearance of a humanoid dragon, complete with skin covered with dragon scales, dragon wings, dragon claws, dragon talons and even a long red dragon tail " **Only one may be known as the true Dragon Warrior, and that would be me and me alone!"** he unleashed a blast of dark energy, narrowly missing the three of them (those three being Po, Shifu and Peng) and his grin turned malicious " **This reminds me of the good old days, don't you agree?"**

" **Indeed, now this is far more like it!"** and so the two of them suddenly flew off, leaving only three of our heroes on the Peach Tree Hill.

"...Ow ow ow ow ow!" Po tried to cool down his burning panda buns "Hot butt, hot butt, hot butt! So where did he go!"

Shifu and Peng were quick to realize where they were heading "The Jade Palace."

"Oh no no no!" they all looked over in horror.

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By that point Tigress and the rest of the Furious Five all regrouped on the steps in front of the Jade Palace "Which one of you blew their horn?" she received several voices of the negatory in that regard.

Crane was the first one to notice it "Where are Po and the others?"

"Do you think they were the ones to blow their horns?"

"Check it out, I can see them by the Peach Tree." Monkey pointed to where Po, Shifu and Peng were all waving at them frantically from their position on the Peach Tree Hill "Hi guys, good to see you two! Hey where's that other kid Cody?"

Tigress was the only one to realize what they were trying to say "It's KePa and Long, they're both here!"

Sure enough, KePa roared down from the heavens and unleashed a massive blast of fire, destroying the Jade Palace in one fell swoop.

"Move, get out of the way!" Tigress and the others barely had any time to react before the explosion engulfed the entire Jade Palace.

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It only took a minute for everything to subside, even though the Jade Palace was reduced to nothing but flames and ash scattered across the top of the mountain.

Shifu was the first one to recover from the blast, only to be horrified by what was left after the blast "No…"

Po soon followed and was left completely and utterly mortified "No no no no no! Guys, where are they? Came you see them?"

"I see them, they're down there!" Peng pointed to where the Furious Five were all piled up further down the stairs "Come on, we have to go make sure they're not hurt and then we have to find a way to stop KePa!" and so the three of them rushed off.

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KePa looked around at the crater where the Jade Palace once stood " **You know now I'm starting to realize what you mean by overkill."**

" **Does it matter? Now we know where the seal is."** Long pointed to the large seal located in the center of the crater " **You know what to do, now all we have to do is argue like two demonic idiots over which one of us gets to break the seal in order to unleash the fury of the demon race upon the world."**

" **Or I can just ignore your prattling and do this."** KePa tried to open the seal, only to find that it wouldn't budge " **Dammit, Oogway really got this thing on tight."**

" **And now as retribution for that little stunt, get out of the way!"** Long burst upwards into the air and fired an energy blast down at the seal, only for it to be unfazed and reveal a spiritual silhouette of the Yin and Yang symbol " **Well that would confirm it, Oogway sealed our brethren away using the Hero's Chi…"**

" **Which means that we must need the Hero's Chi in order to unseal it. The only question now is, who from this generation has it? There was that one boy that you mentioned beforehand, now I really do wish I had peered into the possibility of warriors from other dimensions having it."**

" **You had your chance but you chose to spend eons wallowing in your own self pity until the Peach Tree died, at least I took the initiative in that regard. It was that boy yes, but I obliterated him into nothing not long ago. You might still find some of his ashes scattered throughout the forest. Then again the boy was young so that cannot be considered to be the same generation can it? It must be one of those other eight warriors, so now all we have to do is break them one by one until we find it."**

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"Guys, you guys!" Po, Shifu and Peng reached the Furious Five on their stairs of what used to be the Jade Palace "You guys are you alright?"

"Not for long!" Monkey pointed upwards.

KePa loomed over all of them, with Long riding on his back " **Tell us you pathetic mortals, who among you bares the Hero's Chi?"**

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The scene in the village was utter anarchy.

Mr Ping was trying to calm down the villagers as they started running around in a complete and utter panic "Everyone please remain calm, my son is the Dragon Warrior and he will know what to do!"

"RUN!" Po and the rest of them bolted past them at full speed and began gathering up the villagers as Kepa started torching the village with his fire breath "Come on guys we've gotta move!"

" **Oh please stay, I insist."** Long fired an energy blast at the statue of Po, obliterating it and many of the surrounding buildings, and he hopped off of KePa's back " **Now that's what I like to call a show. Anyway let's get right down to business, in order to release our demon brethren we need the Hero's Chi. I happen to know far more about Chi and the balance between the multiple dimensions of the universe than my very large and rather irritating colleague that can eat you all with one single gulp, so I know that when Oogway ascended to the Spirit Realm the Hero's Chi was re-gifted to one warrior for each of the next two generations that followed. That boy that came from the 8th dimension is nothing but dust and possible scattered drops of blood at this point."** this left Peng snarling with rage and Po and the others speechless over the supposed death of Cody at their hands " **So the question of the day is, which one of you has it?"**

"Even if we knew we would never tell you." Peng snarled "I'd die before I gave anything to you murderers!"

" **Oh but I think that you will, because if you don't then my very large companion here will start to devour your precious villagers here by the clawful. And as you can see he has claws the size of the panda's stomach, and that's saying something."**

"Speaking of which…" Shifu promptly rounded on Po "Panda you were supposed to evacuate the village."

Po cringed "Yeah I know but when I saw KePa get to the village I-"

"You saw him here and you didn't even blow your horn to signal the rest of us?"

"He looked like some weak little pig so I just thought, I thought I could handle it."

"You… I can't even begin to describe how angry I am panda, if we survive this then I won't even be able to think of a punishment befitting of this!"

" **How about this?"** Long swatted Po aside with a single sweep of his claw, sending him crashing into a nearby building " **Does that work?"**

"...Good enough for me."

" **My punishments always are, especially for heroes who don't turn out to be all that heroic."**

"He's no hero, he's nothing but a self centered lout who put his own ego ahead of those who depended on him." this was met with looks of dismay from the others, Peng more than any of the Furious Five.

" **You know as much as I hate getting in the middle of your little family squabble, it just so happens that I am LOSINg MY PATIENCE!"** KePa roared.

Shifu stepped forward "I am the master of the Jade Palace, and I am also the holder of the incredible power that you seek." he was promptly lifted into the air by KePa through his telekinesis.

Po finally pulled himself out of the wreckage and witnessed the scene in front of his eyes, much to his horror "Master Shifu no!"

"I don't want to hear anything that you have to say, the lives of everyone here are in grave danger because of you!"

"But-"

"Just get out of my sight, you are of no use to any of us!"

"Shifu…"

" **Oh isn't this rich?"** Long leaned back against some rubble and grabbed a random bowl of bean buns " **Live entertainment, it's so rare and what better form than getting a chance to watch you flee from your own village drowning in your own shame and disgrace."**

Po said nothing. Now succumbing to his own shame and made to feel even worse under the glares of anger and disappointment from the villagers, he slowly sulked his way out of the village and out of the Valley of Peace entirely.

"Po hold on!" Mr Ping ran after him as fast as he could waddle "Son, son hold on, wait up for me!"

" **Okay that was very entertaining."** Long downed the last bean bun and threw the empty bowl up at KePa.

" **Hey, I told you to stop doing that!"**

" **You did, and I ignored your endless whining. At least I shut up."** he turned his attention back to the villagers " **Now all bow down to me, the new and true Dragon Warrior and my faithful sidekick!"**

" **Yes, bow down before- Sidekick?!"**

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Hours of walking passed, and the skies of China were turning more and more gray by the minute.

Po finally ran out of energy and sat down on some random rock "Okay hold on dad, I've gotta sit down for a second."

"Fine, because we're already here." Mr Ping gestured to a random spot on the road "What do you think, it's a great location for the new noodle shop now isn't it? Lucky for us this spot isn't taken."

"Noodle shop?"

"You know Po this could really turn out to be a good thing, just you and me and noodles just like the old days before you got… Well you know."

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Things were getting worse back in the village.

KePa still had Shifu in a telekinetic chokehold " **And now all we have to do is get the Hero's Chi out of this fool and then we will be able to release our demon brethren."** he threw Shifu to the ground and swatted Peng and the Furious Five aside across the village with a single sweep of his claw.

Long just slapped his own face " **You do realize that if you smash the rat to bits then the Hero's Chi inside if him will just dissipate and fly away and then we'll never be able to free our brethren from Oogway's seal."**

" **...I knew that."**

" **He didn't know that, he also didn't know that we need to use Zhuangzi's Funnel in order to do it."**

" **Enough of your prattling! Now then, let's put these pathetic villagers to use once we gather all of the pieces."**

" **No need to lose your temper, we've already had one win at the moment. I did kill the other boy with the Hero's Chi, and now that he's no longer in this world who else is there that could stop us?"**

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Cody opened his eyes and looked around as he found himself in what looked like a golden lake with a small island and a peach tree in the center of it "Where… Where am I?"

"We're in the Spirit Realm of the world of Kung Fu Panda."

Cody's head snapped up and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head "Gwen…?"

Sure enough, Gwen sat before him in one of the branches of the Peach Tree "Relax we're not dead, Adam and Aurora sent me here a little while ago using that stupid Wuxi Finger Hold. It actually works, go figure, and then Adam found your body in the Bamboo Forest, used the Wuxi Finger Hold on you and then sent you here. You've been out for a few hours or so."

"But then… why are you here?"

"Because Adam told me about what you were doing here, he knew you were gonna start wallowing in your own self pity over having to do this alone."

"Well isn't that just like him." Cody let out a sigh and laid down on the grass "I just don't have it in me Gwen, I'm not the reincarnation of some ancient powerful being like Adam or the one to inherit some ancient family power like Alejandro is. I'm just a weakling and a loser."

"...Maybe you are weak." she leapt down in front of him "Listen to me Cody, you might be weak but you are definitely _not_ a loser and you're above feeling sorry for yourself like this. You might not be the strongest guy in body but your heart is bigger than anyone else in all of these 10 dimensions, why else would I have fallen in love with you?"

"Gwen…"

"Well isn't this touching." a hauntingly familiar voice taunted.

Cody froze and slowly looked back, and his expression changed into one of terror "No… it can't be… Tai Lung…"

Sure enough, before him stood Tai Lung, although his expression was far more stoic than it was malicious, which contrasted from what it used to be "So you are the one said to possess it, the gift from the universe."

"What are you talking about, what do you want with me?"

"It's not a matter of what I want with you, it's a matter of what I want inside of you." the landscape surrounding the three of them turned a disturbing shade of green "That miserable panda took the power of the Dragon Scroll, that power should've belonged to me! But now I can collect something even better, now that I'm stuck here I can't get it from that panda but thanks to that wretched dragon I can collect it from you instead."

"I don't know what you're talking about but whatever you want I don't have it, do I look like someone who could have that kind of power?"

"And there it is, it's simple being wasted on the likes of a boy who doesn't even have faith in himself. Your teachers must be ashamed, well allow me to fix that." he blitzed forward and slugged Cody in the gut, causing him to cough up blood, and followed up with a blast of lightning, sending Cody tumbling backwards across the lake "In my time here in the Spirit Realm I've mastered the Seven Impossible Moves, just now that was the secret of the Iron Heart and Jin Tian's Tempest. Next here comes the Thundering Wind Hammer!" he spun around like a tornado and unleashed a powerful blast of wind, sending Cody crashing into a nearby mountain but also blowing Gwen away into the tree, apparently knocking her out cold.

Cody struggled to lift his head and was horrified "Gwen… no…"

"Oh so you care for the girl do you? Well then, let's make a trade shall we?" Tai Lung blitzed over to where Gwen lay and grabbed her by the throat "Give me what it is that I want or this girl will suffer a pain worse than hell, and keeping in mind that we're already in the Spirit Realm her suffering will never end."

"You…" summoning strength that he never even knew that he had, Cody began to stagger his way forward, his eyes burning with rage "Don't you dare… If you dare… lay one hand… on her… I will… I will wipe you off of the face of this realm!" with a sudden burst of strength he charged at Tai Lung in a rage and was suddenly bathed in a beautiful golden light that covered the entire Spirit Realm.

' _So that's it, he's finally awakened his true potential._ You see boy, this is exactly what I was talking about."

When the light subsided slightly, Cody revealed himself, now clad in a blue Chinese style battle outfit with a golden plane and a black trim on the front of it (think of Kurama's outfit from Yu Yu Hakusho only gold and black instead of yellow and blue), as well as a golden cape fluttering behind him, and his body was radiating a golden energy, much to his awe "Woah, this is… phenomenal."

"Tell me boy, who are you?"

"...To be totally honest, I've been asking myself that question ever since I got to this world, but now I think I finally found the answer." he started spreading golden energy through the air by waving around his hands "I am Cody Anderson, younger brother of Adam Anderson, inheritor of a great gift, a student, perhaps a future teacher, I am all of these things." the golden energy took on the avatar of a massive energy dragon "I am the hero that this world needs, the hero that my brother needs to save him from the path of vengeance, I will hold for him the faith that he does not hold in himself, I will be his guiding light as he has been for me. For as long as he has been in my life Adam has never even once given up, and now that I have inherited from him his will to protect others I won't give up either!" the dragon avatar dissipated as did the golden glow around Cody's body, and yet its presence could still be felt "Adam has always been a hero to me even if he doesn't see himself as one, now it's my turn to be a hero to him, and to the people who need me. Come Tai Lung, let us finish this as a battle between a great Kung Fu master who submerged himself in darkness and a young child who has inherited the greatest gift that the universe can give in the form of the Hero's Chi."

"Very well then, I will grant you this wish and make your end swift!" Tai Lung charged forward and unleashed a Mongolian Fireball.

Cody summoned some Chi into his hand like an energy blade and cut through the fireball with a single wave of his hand "Now it's my turn!" he summoned a whip made up of his chi and used it to swing Tai Lung around through the air, then began repeatedly punching him "And now for the follow up." he fired a blast of energy at Tai Lung, sending him tumbling back "So you said that you had mastered the Seven Impossible Moves?"'

"Indeed I did, so far you've seen Jin Tian's Tempest, the Thundering Wind Hammer as well the great Mongolian Fireball. There are four more left, the first of those the Great Ocean of Zhanmadao!" he clasped his hands together and summoned a massive wave of water from beneath them.

Cody cut through it with ease "Next."

"The Quake of Khan!" Tai Lung slammed his fist into the ground, creating a quake that shook the very Spirit Realm itself.

Cody slammed his foot into the ground, creating a counter quake "Two more, let's get through them all."

"The Great Darkness of Shantou!" Tai Lung fired off a blast of dark black colored chi forward at high speeds.

Cody countered with a blast of his own chi "The last one, show me what it is so I can find a way back to the mortal realm."

"The last but most powerful move, the Great Light of Yao!" Tai Lung fired off a golden colored blast of chi from his mouth.

Cody countered with his own golden colored blast of chi, sending Tai Lung tumbling back into the golden colored pond "Come on, let's end this."

"Very well, this battle ends now!" Tai Lung charged forward with the last of his strength and prepared one final attack.

That is, before a certain figure stopped both of them in their tracks "I believe that will be enough for now."

Cody's eyes nearly bulged out of his head for the second time that day "No way, it just can't be… Oogway?"

Sure enough, before the two of them stood none other than the great master Oogway, with a fully healed Gwen right behind him, and he was holding a jade staff with the symbol for Yin and Yang on the end of it "You have become strong young Cody, it would appear that I had been right after all."

"So then, it's really you… You know you actually look extra shiny right now."

"As do you."

"I know right, this cape feels amazing especially when I run with it."

"It does indeed suit you young one, you have grown much as of recently both in body and in spirit as I had hoped you would when I sent that message to Aurora."

"You mean you knew that I was supposed to inherit the Hero's Chi? You knew that out of everyone in the universe it chose me?"

"Yes, because the universe needed you. You finally became the man that the universe had intended you to be."

"But how did you know that I could?"

"The universe sent me a message, and when I saw you I saw one of the few who could unite the 10 dimensions, and one who is truly worthy of this." he held out his staff "Take it, you have more than earned it and you will continue to earn it."

"Me? But I couldn't possibly-"

"Just take it already." Gwen cut him off "He has like 5 more all bigger than that one lined up at the base of that mountain, and besides we need that thing if we're going to get back to the world of the living."

"...Oh. Well then." he slowly accepted the staff "So we can use this staff to get back to the real world?"

Oogway shrugged "Who knows? I never bothered to try it, and they do not need me to win this fight. They have you, you have proven yourself to be what they need. That is why I tested you before." he gestured to Tai Lung.

"You mean… he was a test?"

"Indeed, and you passed. Now go forth young Cody, live your life."

"...Thank you." he gave a respectful bow to Oogway, as well as one to Tai Lung, with both of them returning it, and he gently took Gwen's hand in his "Come on Gwen, we've got a world to save."

"Quite acting so noble." Gwen just shot him a smirk and pecked him on the cheek.

"What? I'm a hero now, that's how heroes talk." and with that, they disappeared in a brilliant golden light.

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Nightfall came, and things had died down in the Valley of Peace at least for the moment, and so a certain few had taken the noodle shop as a hiding place.

"I'm worried about Shifu." Viper muttered.

Monkey nodded "I know, we have to do whatever it takes to rescue him."

"Not just that though, I mean the way that he treated Po before."

"Hey Po blew it all on his own." Mantis pointed out "He had his head so far up his a- action figure that he couldn't see straight. Yeah action figure, that's what I totally meant to say."

"But sending him away during the middle of this whole crisis, it just doesn't seem like the right thing to do now. Look I don't want to go against Shifu anymore than the rest of you do but Po is still the Dragon Warrior."

Peng nodded "Viper is right, and if we want to have any chance against KePa and Long then we're going to need all of the help we can get. We need to get Po back, especially after what happened to Cody in that fight against Long.

"Which reminds me…" Monkey sounded uneasy "Is that kid really… you know?"

"I saw Long vaporize him with my own eyes, there's no way anyone could survive an attack like that."

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Ping was hard at work making preparations on the new noodle shop, only to notice Po looking downcast "Son is something wrong?"

"...Is something wrong?" and just like that the cork popped on the bottle of Po's anger and frustration "Are you for real right now dad, is something wrong? You know what's wrong! I lived at the Jade Palace, I had adoring fans and I even had factory made action figures of myself with the belly fat and everything! I hung out with the greatest Kung Fu masters alive and now it's all gone, and now my friends and my whole village and maybe even China are in serious danger because of me!"

"So stop feeling sorry for yourself and go save them."

"What? Dad it's impossible, you're out of your mind! I can't beat KePa and Long, Master Shifu doesn't even want me there, everyone there hates me, I lost everything!" he slumped against the new building.

"...You lost everything huh, what are you talking about? I'm the crazy one then? Well tell me this son, what did you have the day that you pulled that noodle cart up to the Jade Palace and became the Dragon Warrior? Fans, action figure things made of cheap plastic, fancy pants friends that can make things explode with their minds?"

"No."

"No and I'm pretty sure that Shifu didn't want you there then, talk about impossible right? But as it turns out son, you already had everything you needed. And here's the thing Po, everything that you had then you still have even now in your heart. Love is what took you up there, you loved Kung Fu and what is it that you love now?"

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Tigress and Peng quickly broke into the prison where Shifu was being held captive "Master Shifu are you alright? Don't worry, we're getting you out." they prepared to break down the door.

"No don't!" Shifu stopped them before they could.

"What do you mean no?" asked Peng.

"I have a plan, there is a chance to take at least KePa down, as a group I think you two and the rest of the Furious Five could defeat him."

"...Master Shifu I know you're angry with Po over what happened but we need him in order to win this fight, after we get you out I'm going to find him and bring him back."

"What? No you can't!"

"But he's valuable!" Tigress protested.

"That's the problem, he's too valuable."

"I don't understand."

"I didn't send him away because I was angry. Tigress, Peng, I need you two to listen to me very carefully. I do not have the Hero's Chi. Po does." this left Tigress speechless.

Peng was the first one to regain his voice "You mean that Po is the key that the demons need to break the seal, you sent him away in order to protect him."

"And to protect everyone else, if he return and KePa and Long get his Chi then we will all be doomed."

"...What do we have to do?" asked Tigress.

"KePa will have to surround me with Zhuangzi's Funnel and crush me in an attempt to extract the Hero's Chi, the energy from the funnel will make him weak and that is the moment the six of you will attack."

"Very well, we- Wait a second, how will you survive that?"

"I won't, as long as KePa and Long believe that I have the Hero's Chi he will be unable to release the other demons. We must keep Po away until KePa is dealt with, then he must be brought back to use his Hero's Chi to defeat Long but until then we must take advantage of our… opportunities."

"An opportunity that will kill you! Master, I…"

"I know that you are one for emotional words Tigress, but I also know that out of all of those that I have ever taught you above all understand the need for sacrifice."

"...Yes master, I do."

"No go and get everyone ready." and so they left without a another single word.

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Peng and Tigress rendezvoused with the rest of the Furious Five on the roof "Alright, we're back now."

"Where's Shifu?" asked Monkey.

"He's staying there, he refused to come with us."

"What, why? You know what forget it. Shifu's lost it, let's go find Po and bring him back home already."

"NO! Listen to me Master Monkey, Po coming back now is the worst possible thing that could happen.

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Po kept on tossing and turning until he finally sat up and sadly looked down at his own action figure "Who am I kidding? Shifu was right, I'm no hero. I'm just a big fat panda."

"No you're not just a big fat panda." a voice echoed "You are _the_ big fat panda."

Po froze and slowly looked up, and his expression changed to one of horror "Tai Lung…"

Sure enough, before him stood Tai Lung, his body being surrounded by a blue glow "Calm yourself panda, I'm not here to fight. I'm here to talk."

"You're not gonna try to kill me for what happened the last time we met? You know when I used the Wuxi Finger Hold on you and sent you into the Spirit Realm and now that I hear it out loud I probably shouldn't have mentioned that."

"Well believe it or not I'm grateful that you did. You know you really do have a lot of time to think when you're dead, it gives you the chance you need to see what you could've become in life if you had walked down a different path, and see just how much of your own potential you had wasted." he gripped his fist slightly "I never wanted to hurt any of them, I just wanted what I had been led to believe was mine. I let myself get consumed by those ideals so heavily that when I was told by Oogway that I wasn't the one, I couldn't accept it. My denial turned to rage and hatred and I spent so long brooding over my lusting for power, for the Dragon Scroll. After the panda defeated me and sent me here using the Wuxi Finger Hold, I found Oogway waiting for me there. He told me just that I needed to relax a little bit, to take some time and smell the roses lined up along my path, and that life or the after life could turn out to be a lot of fun if I would allow it to be. Despite my initial anger and reluctance I did take his advice after some time had passed, and since then I've been able to see things that I was never able to see before, and things I was never able to hear. I've been watching my only nephew go down the path that he had chosen, I'm just glad the Dragon Warrior was able to stop him from making the same mistakes that I had made."

"Yeah well so much for that, because of my screw up all of my friends and the Valley of Peace, not to mention that they used to be your friends and your home, and maybe even China as a whole are in serious danger. Everything that I had because I was the Dragon Warrior is all gone and all because I didn't listen to Shifu and started acting like a total loser! I thought it was more important to be treated like a hero than to act like one, just like how you were! But now that I think about it, maybe if you had been the Dragon Warrior then we wouldn't have ended up in this mess. Not to mention Peng wouldn't have quit Kung Fu the way that he did."

"...Panda. Po. Look at me." Tai Lung forced Po to look at him and punched him in the face, sending.

"Ow, hey what the heck was-"

"Grow. Up."

"What?"

"The things you're saying now are like you think you're the only one suffering but I think it goes without saying that literally every master in the Jade Palace has some stories for you and I can assume that they all end with them coming to the Jade Palace. And before you start whining about Master Shifu not even wanting you there, again, and I get it, take a good long moment to consider that he was actually my father for all of my life as well as my teacher, and that doesn't even come close to the complete tragedy of parenthood that is Crane. I mean just go ahead and look at him."

"Yeah, not my best idea."

"But not your worst, believe me I've seen them. Anyway you think you're better than everyone else and yet here you sit on your hide, the good panda doing absolutely nothing, and while evil triumphs and your rigid cowardice crumbles into dust stained with the blood of all of those you love, the only victory that could be afforded to you is that you lived through the hell submersed in your own shame. You were a coward and a failure to your last whimper. Of fear and love, I fear not that my memory will die, but that all that I am that survives within my nephew Peng will die with him. So please panda, not just for the sake of your loved ones and your home, not even for the sake of China, but for the sake of yourself, stop holding back." and with that, he disappeared.

"What…" Po looked down at his action figure and let out a groan "Ghost and potential moral compass Tai Lung is right, I can't just bail on them now." and the next thing he knew he suddenly found himself running forward at full speed.

Not long after that Mr Ping woke up "Po, son where are you?" he looked down and found the action figure sitting all alone, and he gave a small fond smile "That's my boy, now go get them son."

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Morning came, and the skies were grey over China, reflecting the grim situation at hand.

Po was running through the Bamboo Forest as has as his legs would carry him, his mind racing at the same pace "Whatever happens, please just let me make it in time."

" **You say that like you can actually win."** Long suddenly dropped down in front of him " **But here is the cold hard truth of this situation, don't have a chance of winning and you never did."**

"Get. Out. Of. My. Way."

" **Are you that stubborn or that stupid?"**

"I'm not going to say it again, if I have to force my way through then I will." he got into a stance and prepared to charge him.

That is, before a brilliant golden light shining overhead, and when the light dissipated in its place was Cody, now back in his old clothes but still holding the Yin Yang staff, with Gwen right by his side "No, that will be me."

"Cody! You're…"

"Still alive? You can thank my brother Adam for that, he found me and used the Wuxi Finger Hold to sent me to the Spirit Realm. I went there, fought Tai Lung and awakened the Hero's Chi lying dormant inside my body. Oh and Oogway says hi." he gestured to his new staff "He even gave me this, but now I'm back and I'm finally ready to fight."

"Cody, look I…"

"Hold that thought." Cody blitzed over to Long and dealt him a swift kick to the torso, sending him crashing into a nearby mountain, then blitzed back over to Po "Listen Po, I can handle this guy by myself but even with Long being out of the picture there is still KePa that we have to deal with. That's your job Dragon Warrior, protect your home and your world."

"...Got it. And Cody? Thank you." and so without another thought on the subject Po took off for the Valley of Peace.

"Gwen stay back, just let me handle this." Cody raised his staff.

"As if you had to ask, but just be careful okay? The last thing I need is to explain to my mom that my boyfriend got killed by a dragon." and so Gwen backed off a very great distance from the scene.

Cody took a stance "Go ahead and get up Long, I know that an attack like that wouldn't have hurt you."

Sure enough, Long emerged from the rubble with only a few mere scratches " **So you've awakened your true potential have you? Excellent, killing you wouldn't be that fun if I didn't get a challenge out of it."**

"Well you're about to get your last challenge, the real fight is about to begin." with a burst of speed, Cody blitzed forward through Long, leaving a massive crater where he had been standing and giving Long a deep gash across his shoulder.

" **So you're faster now, not bad at all but don't get too arrogant just because you're glowing."** Long blitzed forward and fired off a barrage of punches and kicks.

Cody dodged and blocked every attack thrown at him with ease and countered with one punch to the face and one kick to the torso, sending Long stumbling back.

Long burst up into the air and fired a dark ball of energy forward.

Cody cut through the dark energy ball with his Yin Yang staff, shattering the attack and leaving black flames scattered around the battlefield.

" **You cancelled it out eh? No matter, I'm just getting started!"** the two of them started trading punches, though he was the only one taking any damage, so he gave up on that and started firing off a barrage of energy blasts.

Cody did a series of backflips to dodge the barrage, leaving a nearby mountain to be decimated as a result, and he blitzed forward and began his counterattack, in which he fired off a barrage of punches, kicks and slashes from his new staff.

Long powered through the assaulty and dealt Cody a slash across the face using his dragon claws.

Cody wasn't fazed in the slightest by the attack and fired a blast of Chi at Long's torso at point blank range, sending him flying through the air and crashing into the side of the mountain "So that's where we'll finish it." and Cody blitzed away.

Gwen, having been forced to the sidelines, watched as the two of them had disappeared ' _Cody, you'd better come back alive, if you die then I swear I will kill you.'_

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Cody appeared on the side of the mountain in front of a pile of rubble "Get up, there's no way that was enough to take you out."

Sure enough, Long burst up from the rubble, now covered in several heavy cuts with black blood running down his body, and he was panting heavily " **I can't believe you would overwhelm me with this much power, but don't think I'm going down that easily. Still though I commend you for actually actually managing to wound me, as a reward you'll get to see something truly special: my FULL POWER!"** his body was engulfed in a fiery crimson aura that shook the entire mountain itself and covered it in a fiery storm of energy. When everything settled down Long's body was now much bulkier and his wounds had been healed, and his body was crackling with crimson electricity.

Cody found himself sweating slightly ' _I can sense it, his power has increased dramatically. He's definitely done playing around, if I'm gonna end this then I've gotta do it now.'_

" **This is what the true Dragon Warrior is capable of, you should feel honored that it's this power that will end your insignificant life!"** Long charged forward and he and Cody began clashing in mid air, trading even blows with neither one of them gaining any leeway over the other one.

That is, until Cody managed to catch Long's fist "I'm not giving up you know, no matter what happens I'm going to win this fight!"

" **You say that like you can!"** Long fired a blast of dark energy at Cody from his free hand, sending him tumbling backwards, and fired back with a new purple one of even greater potency than before, which divided into a number of little blast that converged on Cody and exploded all over him, engulfing him in an explosion.

Cody burst forwards from within the smoke and fired off a barrage of punches and swings from his staff.

Long dodged, blocked and countered every strike until he managed to catch Cody in a brief power struggle " **To think you still have this much power left? You're one persistent bastard I'll give you that much."** the force of the clash began to break apart the face of the mountain itself until they ended up in a brief beam struggle between two energy blasts, which he promptly won out, sending Cody flying through the air and crashing to the ground in a heap.

When the smoke cleared and everything finally died down, it revealed Cody lying on the ground in a crater, coughing up blood by the gallons, and yet despite this he slowly forced himself back to his feet "No… not yet… I'm not done yet…"

" **Okay this just went from fun to being kind of annoying, seriously where do you get this much stamina from anyway?"**

"Like I said, this isn't over yet."

" **How, How is it that after all of that you have the strength left to stand?"**

"My brother Adam had enough faith in me to let me come here, and Gwen had enough faith in me that she came here after me, and Oogway even had enough faith in me to give me this awesome staff. They had faith in me, the least that I can do is have faith in myself and put their teachings to good use!"

" **Oh please, you think that can stand up to my power? I won't say that your faith in them isn't commendable but it's not going to be enough for you to defeat me."**

"I think we're about to see about that." Cody held up his staff and was suddenly engulfed in a golden light.

" **What is this, what are you doing? No, it can't be that…"**

"You'd better believe it is. Thanks to this staff I can store some of my Hero's Cho into it and charge it up for one massive attack that I unleash all at once. I like to call this move my Hero's Light!"

" **Shut up! You still don't get it, why do you insist on standing in my way?!"**

"You're the one who still doesn't get it Long, you've waited for 1,000 years for the sake of a fight that you're about to lose." and with that, Cody brought down the staff, resulting in a blinding light engulfing the area.

" **I cannot… be defeated! Not… by the likes… OF YOU!"** Long could only roar in agony as he was vaporized on the spot by the blast.

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The battle was over, the land had been decimated but Long had been vanquished, and Cody had won the day.

Cody hit the ground in the Bamboo Forest with a loud thud, leaving a small crater from the impact, but he quickly bounced back "Wow what a rush, man I feel like I'm on top of the world…" and then he fell forward.

That was when a certain someone blitzed in front of him and caught him on his back will a fond smile filled with pride "Hey."

"Adam… you're here…"

"Someone had to send you and Gwen to the Spirit Realm with the Wuxi Finger Hold so you could meet up with Master Oogway and Tai Lung, but you really stepped up today and you came through on all of it like a champ. You've grown stronger than even I thought possible, I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of you right now."

"Thank you, but there's something that I need to say to you first." Cody pulled himself back onto his own feet "What I said to Tai Lung in the Spirit Realm is true. Adam you're amazing in just about every sense of the word, I know that better than anyone. You protect those who can't protect themselves, you protect them even when they refuse your help, you bring out the best in people, you make friends out of almost everyone he meets, and you have faith in everyone. But the problem with that is that you refuses to have any faith in yourself. You constantly promise to me, to Bridgette and to the rest of them that you won't let yourself journey down the path of vengeance, and yet all this time you've never made that promise to yourself. You have faith in everyone else so it's time someone else had faith in you for once, and that person will is going to be me. So please Adam, let me be your hero."

"...Well if your mind is made up then there's no use trying to change your mind, but if you wanna be my knight in shining armor or whatever then be that to Gwen first."

"Oh crap where is she?"

"Right here." Gwen emerged from the bamboo trees, cutting them down with her Dragonfang, and she pulled Cody into a tight hug "You had me worried you reckless little idiot, never scare me like that again. Honestly, there's never a dull moment with either one of you two idiots around is there?"

"Well we're Anderson men, it's what we do."

"As much as I'd like to wrap this up here keep in mind that we've still got another dragon to defeat." Adam pointed out.

"And then you're swoop in and steal the win like you always do?"

"Nope, just gonna provide the miracle that does make sure they win. You don't need me to win against those kinds of things anymore Cody, you proved that here today. You finally get what I've been trying to teach you for a really long time. It's not about beating the crap out of everybody, it's about protecting what you believe in. I believe in people, and I believe in you more than anyone else. Come on, let's go save the world of Kung Fu Panda."

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The skies were an unsettling shade of gray over the Valley of Peace as everyone was being forced by KePa into helping with the construction of Zhuangzi's Funnel.

Peng and the Furious Five watched the construction continue "This is it, he's almost ready to do it."

"That's one heck of a barbecue." Mantis noted.

"They're building Zhuangzi's Funnel, KePa plans to use it to free the other demons that were sealed away by Master Oogway."

"By crushing Shifu, are you serious?"

"I don't like it anymore than the rest of you do but unless we find some sort of miracle I don't think we have any other choice, now when KePa is weakened that's when we attack."

"This whole thing is a big circle of stink." Mantis grumbled.

"I know that Master Mantis but I just don't see any other way of doing this, keep in mind that Master Shifu is the one who came up with this plan so he understands that his sacrifice is for the best. It has to be."

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The construction continued.

KePa leered down at the villagers being forced to build the funnel, then at Shifu where he was being restrained above the funnel " **You know I'm sort of enjoying all of this extra effort, as if I'm actually earning it. It should make the release of all of my fellow demon brethren that much more enjoyable, especially when I get to rub it in Long's face that he wasn't even here to see it happen. What's the matter rat man, nothing to say? No pithy wisdom that you learned from Oogway, no lofty moral judgements designed to piss me off?"**

"What should happen will happen." was all Shifu said.

" **Oh I see, zen like acceptance and resignation to your fate. That's oh so very master like of you, well then Shifu I couldn't agree anymore if I tried. Your time is fleeting anyway, one more piece and the funnel will be ready and then the real fun will begin."** he flew up into the air in triumph just as the last piece of the funnel was put in place " **At last the time has come, now release him!"** he had some random bandit that he threatened into helping him cut the ropes, dropping Shifu into the funnel and towards his inevitable demise " **Now then, let's get the real party started already!"** he started squeezing Zhuangzi's Funnel, putting himself into a trance as he did so, his eyes glowing a menacing shade of crimson, with blue lights bursting out from within the funnel, causing Shifu to cry out in pain.

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Peng cringed at the sound of Shifu's cries of pain but braced himself "Remember everyone, this is what Shifu wanted. It's almost time, get ready."

"Shifu!" a new voice cried out.

Peng whipped around and found Po standing at the top of the Jade Palace stairs "Po, no this is horrible!"

"What are we gonna do?" asked Mantis.

"All of you stick to Master Shifu's plan, I'll stall Po for as long as I can and hopefully get him away from here."

"But if this is going to work then we'll need you too!"

"You have obligations to protect the Valley of Peace and Shifu is your master, as his students it's only right that you be the ones to finish it. Now just go!" he bolted off, with the rest of them taking off in the opposite direction.

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Po took a moment to catch his breath but then prepared to go save Shifu "Alright Shifu just hang on, I'm coming!"

"Po don't!" Peng dropped down in front of him "Listen to me."

"Peng come on, we've gotta save Shifu!"

"No Po, we don't." and so Peng charged at Po at full speed.

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By this point Tigress and the others, albeit with some clear difficulty, had managed to successfully tie up KePa while he was squeezing the funnel "Yes, we got him!" they tried to tie him tighter as he squeezed tighter.

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"Shifu no!" Po tried to force his way forward, only to find Peng blocking his way "Peng get out of the way, I have to get through!"

"No Po, you don't get it!" Peng tried to force him back in a desperate attempt "I can't let you get through to-"

"Peng if I don't get in there then he's going to kill Shifu!"

"I know."

"Are you completely out of your mind?!"

"Po you need to listen to me-"

"No Peng, you need to listen to me! I have to save Shifu! This is my fault."

Peng said nothing.

"This is my fault Peng, I'm the one who cause this so maybe I can fix it. I even met Long on the way here, then Cody showed up and he had the Hero's Chi, and then I saw this huge light and I just knew that he had won! He actually destroyed Long! We can win this, if I can save Shifu then he can take KePa down and save everyone. The least I can do is save him. Please Peng, let me make things right."

"Po… I…"

"Peng we need you!" Tigress and the others were still struggling to keep KePa under control while he was in his trance.

"...I'm sorry Po, but this is the way it has to be." and so Peng leapt off to join the others in their struggle, in which he and the rest of the Furious Five began attacking KePa relentlessly in any way that they could.

Unfortunately, this failed when KePa snapped out of his trance and started crushing them using his telekinesis as he broke free of his restraints " **Oh yeah sure, attack a guy while he's in a trance why don't you? Yeah well guess what, you failed."** he started crushing the funnel with his bare claws " **And now that all of you peons are down for the count I can finally take you all out."** he closed his fist and started crushing them all, laughing maniacally as he revelled in their suffering.

However, Po had taken this chance to haul Shifu out of the funnel "Just hang on Shifu, I've got you!"

"Panda… no…" Shifu's voice was hoarse.

"Try not to talk, I'm gonna get you out of here."

"It's you…"

"Yeah Shifu, it's me."

"No panda, it's actually you…"

"Wait what are you talking about?"

"It's you, you have the Hero's Chi."

Po's face lit up in realization at this "Wait… I-"

" **The panda?"** unfortunately, KePa heard this along with him and promptly used his telekinesis to throw Shifu off of the funnel and Po into it, and he squeezed it, shattering the funnel in a blinding blue light " **Yes, at last it is done! If only Long were here to see this, I could gloat right in front of his smug face!"**

Once the light dissipated, Shifu and the others found Po buried under some of the scattered debris of the funnel "Po…"

KePa on the other hand ripped the top off of the seal and peered down it " **At long last the day has come, now my demon brethren you have been freed!"**

Sure enough, with a rage filled shriek, the massive horde of demons burst upwards from within the seal and covered the skies.

" **Yes my brethren, at last you are free! Destroy them destroy them all! Leave none of them alive!"**

"Everyone hurry and clear out!" Peng quickly gestured for everyone to get out there, to which they had no objections "Master Shifu, everyone we have to get out of here."

"I'm not leaving him!" Shifu turned to Tigress and the rest of the Furious Five "All of you hurry and get the villagers to safety, whatever it takes get them as far away from the village as you possibly can."

"But what about-" their protects were quickly cut off.

"I said GO!" and that sent them on their way.

"Master Shifu, is he-" Peng was cut off when Po gave a weak cough "Po!"

"He's still alive, that's a relief."

"But I doubt he has long, his Hero's Chi has been drained so he can't have much time. What can we do for him?"

"I don't know, I… Wait a moment, the Peach Tree! We have to take him to the Peach Tree so it can restore him just like it did for Oogway!"

"Then we have to hurry." they both slung Po's arms around each of their shoulders and made a beeline for the Peach Tree.

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The situation was grim.

KePa and his demons were rampaging through the village causing havoc everywhere they turned, with the Furious Five struggling to even protect the villagers let alone attack " **This little show is just the beginning, soon we will have all of China and then the world will grovel before us! We will wipe all mortals right off of the face of this planet, and then the 10 dimensions themselves will be at our mercy!"**

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By this point Shifu and Peng had successfully dragged Po all the way to the hill that houses the now dead Peach Tree "Please Po, hang on for just a little bit longer."

"Master Shifu, just look at it." Peng muttered "The Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom, the tree is dead."

"Looks can often be deceiving Peng, the Peach Tree saved Oogway in his most desperate hour of need and now it will do the same for Po. It has to."

"I hope so Master Shifu, I really really do." so they pulled Po up to the Peach Tree and placed his hand on it, only for it to crumble into ash and scatter away into the wind.

Shifu was left horrified, but he quickly regained his composure "I… I'm sorry panda… I truly am…"

"No…" Po's voice was soft, hoarse and strained "I'm the one… who's… sorry…"

"Try not to talk Po, save your strength." Peng told him.

"No… I have to say this… This was all my fault… If I would've listened to you instead of…" he cringed in pain.

"It's alright panda." Shifu tried to console him.

"No, no it's not alright. I let it go to my head just like I always do, I thought it was more important to be treated like a hero than to act like one. I just wish… that I could've had… another… chance…" and with that, he fell still and fell backwards.

"...It's over. Po is gone, and KePa has won."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that."

Shifu whipped around to find Cody being backed by both Adam and Gwen "Cody, you… you're alive."

"And Long is not." Cody held up his staff "You can thank Master Oogway for that, he taught me how to use the Hero's Chi properly."

"I see…" he hung his head "But Po is…"

"You yourself said less than 5 minutes ago that looks can be deceiving, I think you oughta take your own advice chipmunk." Adam pointed to a small plant sitting next to Po's body, glowing a certain shade of gold "Take a look at that for example."

"That… That's a Peach Tree sapling!" this was followed by Po being enveloped in the golden light and lifted high into the air "It's restoring his life force, restoring his Hero's Chi!"

"So it wasn't the Peach Tree itself that saved Po in his hour of need but rather a sapling for a new Peach Tree, kind of symbolic of the new generation when you think about it. You've gotta give it to Oogway, that brilliant bastard definitely knows how to plan ahead."

"He is brilliant, he must've known about this happening all along!"

Po was enveloped even further by the golden light as it took the shape of the Peach Tree, and he opened his eyes as he was lowered back to the ground "So what did I miss?"

"You're alive!" Peng suddenly wrapped Po in a bone crushing hug, only to step back after a few seconds "And I'm happy. About that. Master."

"Don't pull a Tigress on me Peng, come here!" Po pulled him into a bone crushing hug, causing him to squeal in pain.

"Getting Owen flashbacks here." Gwen muttered, with Adam and Cody nodding in agreement in sage like fashions.

"Anyway thanks little buddy, but you know I feel kind of weird."

"Word of advice big guy, check it." Adam nonchalantly gestured to the demon that was about to attack them from behind.

"I've got it!" Po hit the demon with a blast of chi, vaporizing in on the spot "Woah… AWESOME!"

"I'll say, looks like the Peach Tree sapling not just trestored your chi but took it a step further and enhanced it to the point where you're still weaker than I am." Adam was promptly smacked upside the head by Cody and Gwen "Ow!"

"Woah, so what do I do with it?"

"I'll tell you what to do with it, kick some dragon ass and you save the world."

"...Cool." and so he jumped off of the hill and flew off towards the village.

"Oh yeah, this is gonna be good." Adam laid down on the hill and pulled a bag of popcorn out of god knows where.

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The scene in the village was utter chaos, but the light of hope had been lit anew.

Po dropped down in front of KePa looking more confident than ever before, with Cody right beside him "Hey there, how ya doin?"

" **The panda, alive? No that's impossible how can this be?"**

"Truth be told I'm not really sure, I think it was some kind of weird mystical magical thing or something."

"I already told you three times, it was the Peach Tree sapling." Cody just palmed his face "How many times do I have to go through this with you?"

"As many times as it takes for me to do this." Po fired a blast of Hero's Chi at one of the random demons "How's that?"

"Nothing compared to this." Cody fired two blasts, one from his hand and one from his staff, killing 10 demons all at once "Take notes panda."

" **The Hero's Chi?! Attack them, devour them, destroy them!"**

"Not today chachis!" Cody and Po both took to the air and began blasting one demon after another using the Hero's Cho, at least until they ended up getting dog piled "There's too many of them!"

"Follow my lead, I've got an idea!" Po dropped down to the ground, leaving them to dog pile each other in mid air "They're following us everywhere we go right? I say we just let them follow!"

"Good enough for me!" and so the two of them hit the ground and took off running up the stairs of the Jade Palace.

" **Whatever happens, do not let him escape!"**

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Po and Cody led the demon horde up to where the Jade Palace once stood "Stay back little buddy, this one is all mine." and so Po summoned a small ball of Hero's Chi as the demons closed in.

Cody looked back and saw Adam, Gwen, Peng and the rest of them appear "Don't help him, he's got this one in the bag."

"Hey you guys hungry?" Po held up his ball of chi "Come and get it!" he leapt back into the seal, with the demon horde chasing after him, which was followed by a loud rumbling.

"...Yeah this might be a good time to take cover."

Sure enough, at that moment Po burst back up from within the seal, kicked the lid back onto the top of it, and sealed it shut once again, before collapsing on the ground "Oh man… totally exhausted…"

"Yeah I feel you." Cody sat down next to him "Defeating a dragon from hell like Long really takes it out of you, I'm used to my brother doing this stuff not me. Now I feel a little bit nauseous doing it myself."

"That goes away. Eventually."

"God I hope so-"

" **NO!"** now absolutely livid over the death of Long and the rest of his demon brethren being sealed once again, KePa dealt Cody a sharp tail attack out of pure rage, sending him tumbling backwards and knocking his Yin Yang staff out of his hands " **I swear by all that is dark and vile in this world, this day will see the Hero's Chi eradicated from this world and all of the 10 dimensions!"**

Cody tried to hit KePa with a blast of chi from his bare hands, only to find himself coming up short ' _Dammit, I've drained my Hero's Chi and without my staff I can't recharge myself! I'm sorry guys, maybe this is all that I'm meant to have.'_

"Get a grip already you idiot!" believe it or not it was Adam who snapped him out of his mini funk "What the hell are you sitting around feeling sorry for yourself for? Are you seriously cool with getting your ass kicked in front of Gwen like this?" he pointed to Gwen "You lose to that overgrown lizard and I will kick your ass to kingdom come!"

' _Adam…_ I won't let you down!"

" **Don't hold your breath!"** KePa started pummeling Cody, slamming him into things, blasting him with electricity and attempting to crush him with his telekinesis, before flinging him high into the dark clouds looming over China.

Adam looked up and held out his arm in front of the others "Po is tapped out of his Hero's Chi and Cody is running on fumes."

"So then…" Gwen trailed off.

"Yep, KePa doesn't stand a chance."

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KePa continued torturing Cody with his electricity powers, leaving him hurtling down towards the ground below " **I'm going to enjoy watching you squirm before I devour you whole you pathetic insect!"**

"No… I can't… lose… I WON'T LOSE TO YOU!" Cody managed to fire another blast of Hero's Chi, hitting KePa in the face.

" **No, this can't be happening! It's just not possible! You're just worm, you're nothing but an ant! YOU'RE A MORTAL!"**

"You're damn right I am! And on behalf of all mortals from across the 10 dimensions I say to you… Skadoosh! **Hero's Light!"** and with that, Cody used the last of his strength to unleash one final blast of Hero's Light, engulfing KePa in a brilliant golden light that ended the battle once and for all.

At long last, it was over.

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A few days passed, and things had died down, with everyone returning to their respective homes and lives.

Shifu finished reading to Po the story of his newly written legend "And so as Po had protected the Valley of Peace, the Peach Tree now protected Po. So what do you think?"

Po gave a simple shrug "I don't know if I'm that deserving of a legend or all that Shifu, but what matters is that we're safe again thanks to the Peach Tree. And to Cody and those other guys from that other dimension."

"Partially to them yes but it's also thanks to you Po, it was your selfless actions that saved all of us and the rest of the world."

"I guess…" Po looked up to see Mr Ping flying onto the scene "Dad? Dad over here!"

"Son you're alright!" Mr Ping caught Po in a quick hug and turned to Shifu as he pulled out a small box "I brought what you had asked me to."

"Excellent, Po I have something that I want to you see." Shifu opened the box and pulled out one of Po's custom made action figures.

Po let out a nervous chuckle "Thanks Shifu but I'm not too sure that I want that, it doesn't really seem all that important anymore."

"Who said it was for you? This one belongs to me."

"...Well how about that." Po looked out at the vast lands of China, with Shifu and Mr Ping both right by his side.

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter was a crossover with Kung Fu Panda, or more specifically the special Enter the Dragon. I'm not sure if this episode is considered non canon or just acts as the chronological series finale aired out of order, but I thought it would be cool to do something like this. It was either this or do the Teen Titans movie Trouble in Tokyo where I say that Aurora was Raven's teacher but I figured this would be a better fit considering what I have planned for the third story of the trilogy. I already have it planned out: The four Turtle dimensions (5 counting Dimension X), the Underdog dimension, the Ben 10 dimension, the Kung Fu Panda dimension, and two others, one that will be featured in a later chapter and one that I plan to save as a surprise for the final story of the trilogy.**

 **If the scene in the beginning with Po and Fung and the former Croc Bandits is anything to go by, this takes place after Po the Croc, so now the Crocs are out of prison and are trying to go straight.**

 **The idea of having Cody fight the spirit of Tai Lung and then having him return to help in the fight against Long and KePa was an idea that just popped into my head and I decided to roll with it. His speech about his rode to redemption is loosely based on the speech that Makarov gave Laxus when he kicked him out of Fairy Tail. I think it's fitting don't you?**

 **Tai Lung's speech to Po is loosely based on the one that Android 16 gives Gohan in DBZ Abridged episode 60 part 1, it was a fantastic speech for a fantastic episode that was totally worth the wait. Oh and for those of you who weren't aware, TeamFourStar _will_ be doing a fourth season.**

 **I know Jin Tian's Tempest isn't stated to be one of the Seven Impossible Moves but I just thought it would be fun to see the other five that were never mentioned. I created four of my own though based on other elemental properties in the form of the Great Ocean of Zhanmadao (Water), the Quake of Khan (Earth), the Great Darkness of Shantou (Yin) and the Great Light of Yao (Yang).**

 **That scene with Cody and Oogway in the Spirit Realm is based on the scene from Kung Fu Panda 3, I thought it would be neat for Cody to meet his predecessor in mastery of the Hero's Chi, and I even gave him the Yin Yang Staff that Po originally got.**

 **I added Gwen in to motivate Cody along with Adam because he can't be the solution to every problem, and I think it's with his character that he wants Cody to be able to stand on his own when he's gone (considering his fated final battle with Mal and his own recurring doubts as to whether or not he'll actually survive).**

 **I added Peng into this chapter because he's one of my favorite Kung Fu Panda characters of all time and I was super pissed that he only appeared in 3 episodes, one for each season.**

 **Long's transformation into a humanoid dragon form is loosely based on the transformation that Natsu undertakes in the movie Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry, what with the red dragon wings, the dragon claws, the dragon talons on the feet and the dragon tail. I didn't give him a transformation into a full dragon like KePa because I wanted him and Cody to have an actual proper fight scene.**

 **That scene with Cody and Oogway in the Spirit Realm is based on the scene from Kung Fu Panda 3, I thought it would be neat for Cody to meet his predecessor in mastery of the Hero's Chi and I even gave him the Yin Yang Staff that Po originally got.**


	9. A Knight's Evolution

**(Takes place between during chapters 17-18 of the Ridonculous Underdogs)**

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" _Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and the Metallians and their ruler Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the wind and lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take their power for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, and in the process the homeworld of the Metalians, Metallum, was destroyed, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallum was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see Metallum fall for his betrayal. Unsatisfied by this, Metallum made a pact with the Cosmic Elemental of fire, Urere, to create a warrior of fiery pure evil simply to torture each reincarnation until it ceased. Until the day comes when Metallum is slain the cycle will continue and if that day never comes, the true spirit of the Hurricane will be lost forever to the memory of time."_

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 **(After events of the Cosmic Elementals, before the events of Ben 10 and the Cosmic Knight)**

The scene on the beach on the outskirts of Ocean Falls was quiet with next to nobody anywhere in sight, which made sense since it was the middle of the night.

Daniel stood on the shore looking out at the vast horizon that lie ahead "I know you're eager to stand by him in this fight Bridgette but do not forget, this training will be the hardest thing that you've ever done. It will drain you mentally, physically and spiritually. And then comes the hard part when I awaken your Second Origin."

Bridgette opened her eyes from where she was meditating "I know dad. I haven't been any help to Adam up to this point and the fact that I didn't know about it is no longer an excuse. I don't want to end up running out of strength at the worst time and leave myself defenseless, Adam and the others have enough to worry about as it is. I need to understand these powers from this Cosmic Lacrima my body and I need to understand how to sustain it."

"In order to do that you will first have to strengthen your mind in order to enhance the vessel that holds the power within you. You have to feel the land, feel the wind, feel the air, focus on that sensation. You have to control your breathing and try to become one with nature."

"Right." so Bridgette took a deep breath and began concentrating, and the water in the ocean in front of her began to ripple and vibrate.

"There you go sweetheart, you're doing well so far. You can't be finished yet, you have to release a greater amount of energy in order for this to work."

"I… I'm trying…" and then she fell back from exhaustion "That… That was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be…"

"No need to feel disappointed, you did marvellously for your first day. Far better than I was when I was starting out in my training in the Mystic Arts before I met your mother until the guise of Master Santiago."

"I guess… So what kind of training do you think Alejandro is doing right now? I mean he already has that Crimson Jaguar power right, what else could there be for him?"

"...I believe I know exactly what it is that Aurora intends for him. You and the rest of your friends have great potential Bridgette and yet the others have only scratched the surface of your power, there is much greater power held within your bodies, a reservoir of dormant power known to the Masters of the Mystic Arts as the Second Origin. Through a ritual that I had previously learned from Master Santiago I can force this Second Origin, with it you will be able to awaken the water powers supplied by the Cosmic Lacrima inside of your body, and then you will have to learn how to control it. Be weary though, unlocking your Second Origin will be unimaginably painful."

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 **(After the events of Ben 10 and the Cosmic Knight, towards the end of the events of Enter the Dragon)**

Aurora led Alejandro through a portal to where a beautiful waterfall sat in front of them with a small island in the middle of the lake in front of them "Here we are."

"What is this place?" asked Alejandro.

"This is an area known as the Waterfall of Light, every Master of the Mystic Arts must come here to train and cleanse themselves of their hatred."

"And this is meant to enhance my Crimson Jaguar abilities?"

"Not quite, this is simply the first step in a much greater process. Sit down on that small island and close your eyes and you will meet your true self, or more accurately the darkness inside of yourself."

"...Very well then." so Alejandro stepped onto the small island, sat down in a meditative position and closed his eyes.

"What you do from here is up to you." and so Aurora exited the scene through another portal, which left Alejandro alone in his trial.

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Alejandro opened his eyes ' _I do not know what I will face, but I suppose there is only one way to find out.'_

"Why?" a voice echoed as a shadowy silhouette "Why do you continue to delude yourself and all of the others around you?"

"What is this?"

"I suppose I cannot blame you though, after all if I felt the same way that you do then I would most likely be in denial as well." the figure emerged from behind the waterfall, revealing himself as exactly identical to Alejandro, only with crimson pupils and black sclera "After all the way that we behaved was utterly despicable, who would want anything to do with us after all of that?"

' _Who is he? He looks just like me.'_

"You do remember don't you? The way that you disgraced Carlos and your entire family all over the world, the way that people still look at you as if you are the scum of the Earth."

"Enough of this, who are you?"

"Is it not obvious? I thought you would understand it already, I am you."

"But that can't be, how is this possible?"

"You can thank this place for that, it allowed me to come out and show myself to you, I am the darkness that exists inside of your heart and as such I am the real you." he looked around a little bit "So this is the place that Lady Aurora refers to as the Waterfall of Light? I had never anticipated that I would be able to completely reveal myself in such a way, it does seem very fitting. Anyway, I am the so called Light that she had intended for you to face. I am the real self from within the deepest darkest depths of your soul."

"The real me? But that would mean…"

"Yes that's right, I am the hatred that burns inside of your very soul. The only difference between us is that one of us cares what other people think of us and what we think of ourselves. Just face the facts, I am the real one here and I have no intention of letting some pitiful imposter do away with me."

"So that is how it is then?"

"This is how it has to be." and so Dark Alejandro charged forward and let a fist fly.

Alejandro countered the fist with one of his own, sending out a small shockwave "The only one here that is fake is you and I intend to prove it."

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Aurora emerged from the portal back in the Sanctum and found Adam and Cody there waiting for her, the latter still holding his new Yin Yang staff "I take it your quest had been a successful one?"

"It was, as you can see." Adam gestured to Cody's new Yin Yang staff "Plus Gwen is back in the race and I think they're heading for the Arctic Circle next."

"I see, that's good then."

"So what do we do next?" asked Cody.

"For now young Cody, you rest. You have earned it and you will need it for what is coming next."

"And what about the others?" asked Adam "How are Bridgette and Alejandro doing on their training?"

"By now I assume that Daniel is working on releasing Bridgette's Second Origin so that she may tap into her dormant powers."

"...You mean like the thing from Fairy Tail?"

"In a manner of speaking yes."

"Huh. Well what about Alejandro?"

"The same will come for him in time but first he must conquer his inner demons, however I can imagine that by now he is beginning to understand just how difficult that is going to turn out to be."

"And I'm guessing that I come into that equation somewhere?"

"Carlos always did describe you as a fast learner."

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Alejandro wasn't getting anywhere in his struggle against Dark Alejandro, and now his mind was racing to come up with a solution ' _This is unbelievable, our strength and our techniques and our fighting styles are exactly the same! At this rate this is never going to end.'_

"You might as well just accept it." Dark Alejandro shot him a smirk "You never had any chance of defeating me and you never will."

"Callate!"

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By this point Adam had arrived at the Waterfall of Light, and now he was watching Alejandro sit and meditate ' _Okay so from what Aurora tells me, when someone sits before the Waterfall of Light they can meet their true self. The waterfall itself is like some kind of sacred mirror that reflects the user's true self so now Alejandro is fighting it out with himself.'_

Alejandro's eyes suddenly snapped open and he began gasping for air, sweat dripping down his face "Oh… oh dios mio…"

"What the hell happened to you Ale-handjob?"

"This person… He looked exactly like me… and I think… he was my dark half… that Aurora had told me about… We're both exactly the same… The same levels of strength, the same levels of intelligence, the same style of fighting, everything is identical between the two of us. The battle would never end."

"So what are you gonna do, just give up? You know what Aurora said, if you don't do this then you can't enhance your Crimson Jaguar power."

"I know but… I can't help but wonder if what was saying was true? Adam you know better than anyone how horrible my actions truly were, not only did I hurt many people in several moments of abysmal judgement but I also disgraced my family and dishonored my brother's teachings, only for him to perish not long after. Perhaps my darker half is not in the wrong, maybe I am not worthy of the blood and power coursing through my veins."

"Hey at least you didn't lie to the people you care about for years like I have, don't be such a drama queen."

"What you have done is completely different from the things that I had done."

"...Okay you know what screw it, I don't have the energy to argue with you over this. Come with me idiota." he grabbed Alejandro by the shoulder and the two of them disappeared.

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Another training routine had at last reached the very painful next step.

Kevin cringed as he watched Bridgette, with glowing blue marks covering her body, writhed on the ground in agonizing pain "You have to stay strong Bridgette, I know the pain is intense but you still have a long way to go."

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Adam and Alejandro materialized in a certain wasteland "Here we are."

Alejandro looked around and cringed "This is the land in Drumheller, why would you wish to bring me here to talk?"

"Because of what I want to talk to you about, I know how you feel about yourself Alejandro but you're wrong. I know for a fact that despite what you think, you are a good person." he held up a hand to stop Alejandro from replying "Don't even bother I already know, don't start about all of the people that you've hurt. I get it, you were a total asshole less than 2 years ago but even during World Tour I knew that you weren't evil, you weren't even a truly horrible person. I mean granted you did some seriously awful stuff but you were never really evil now were you?"

"Did you truly believe that I had redeeming qualities back then?"

"Compared to Heather? Yes. Compared to Sierra? Well duh."

"We had a major hand in both of their eliminations, you don't have the right to speak about such things."

"You think I don't know that? I've done some f*cked up stuff too so quit feeling sorry for yourself, you can't change the past and you can't change what happened. What's done is done already but this is your life now, and I've seen you do some amazing things. You've saved the lives of the Utrom Queen, the Salamandrians, the rest of the Utrom survivors, pretty much everyone in the Earth of Dimension 7, not to mention you stopped me from making the worst mistake that I could: Letting my vengeance consume me. Plus you shipped me and Bridgette longer than everyone accept for Cody so that's a feat in itself."

"Perhaps but that is still nothing compared to what I-"

"Shut. The f*ck. Up. How about this? You proved yourself to be worthy of the power of the Crimson Jaguar, if you weren't worthy then it would've killed you on the spot."

"Perhaps but mi abuelo was the first one to-" he was smacked upside the head.

"We're not talking about your grandfather, we're talking about you. Do you think that matters right now?"

"I… I suppose not…"

"Listen to me Alejandro, if you were as bad as you think you are then you wouldn't give a damn about the things that you did or the people that you hurt. The fact that you're constantly whining about it is proof that you've changed for the better, I mean sure it's annoying now but you still mean well don't you?"

"...I hadn't really thought of it that way."

"Oh for god's sake, now you're getting on my nerves."

"No, let me say this. Humans are not perfect, myself included."

"They're not supposed to be perfect. If the true nature of people is darkness then I'm okay with that, if the true nature of people is light then I'm okay with that too, because people are all living beings so our purposes are endlessly evolving with the sands of time. People along with the world that they live in, there is no definition of people because everyone sees it differently. The possibilities are as limitless as one's own imagination, they can either fall to darkness or rise to light depending on the choices that they make. People are free to make whatever choices that they so desire. These are all things that I learned from Carlos. Besides, don't you remember what I told you after his funeral?"

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 **(After the events of the final chapter of the Rise of an Underdog)**

The funeral for Carlos had ended and everyone had gone their separate ways, well everyone except for two people that is, the two people that were closer to him than any others.

Adam stepped into the cemetery and found Alejandro still kneeling in front of Carlos grave without moving "Hey."

Alejandro didn't even bother looking back "I suppose you came here to try and restore my faith in myself? I'm sorry but you will not succeed."

"Nope, I just came here to talk."

"...You should return home, I can imagine your hermanito and the senorita whose heart you've captured must be concerned about you."

"Yeah they were but I told them that I'd be fine, and they know better than to try and argue with me about pretty much anything."

"I see."

"So what's your next move, where are you gonna go from here? What's your next move gonna be?"

"I… I don't know. I suppose that right now I would be keeping my options open."

"Uh huh. There's one more thing that I never was able to figure out about you that I was hoping you could fill me in on."

"Go on."

"When you look back on everything, we both know that as reckless and panic driven as they might have been your actions were in a desperate attempt to save Carlos. So then what were your reasons for trying to grill Cody for information about Mal? What did something like that actually mean to you? For that matter, what did the idea of a real true friend mean to you? What do you want to do with the skills that you possess, do you just want to use them for your own personal gain like Jose or would use your skills to help people and forge connections with those around you?"

"...You do have a great deal of questions and curiosity, I can see that Carlos did indeed pass on a great deal to you."

"Well they're all the same in the long run. What kind of man do you want to tell yourself that you are and is that man the same person that you see when you look at your reflection in the mirror? If it were for your benefit then would you take the life of an innocent, does the darkness within the depths of your soul hold that much power over you? If that is the case then you are nothing more than a puppet to your own pathetic desires but that's the thing Alejandro, that's the sort of impression that I don't get from you. You're not heartless, you're not void of any sort of conscience and you're not like Jose."

"Are you finished? In case you were not aware I would like to be alone."

"I know, but to leave you alone now is something that I just can't do. There is no reason for you to just give up and plunge yourself into the darkness of your own inner demons." as if to emphasize the storm clouds overhead disappeared to reveal the warmth and light of the sun above them "You can help me finish what Carlos helped me start, you can help me finish my quest to destroy Mal once and for all."

"And why should I do such a thing?"

"There is great value in the time that one can spend in their own company but to live a life filled with total isolation is something that no one should have to endure no matter who they might be or what they may have done."

"...You do realize that I cheated in Jamaica which led to Ezekiel being eliminated, and my actions also led to the eliminations of Owen, Trent, Courtney, Duncan and DJ. I nearly destroyed Duncan and Courtney's relationship, and I hurt many others both physically and emotionally during my time on Total Drama."

"Yeah well wounds like those can and will heal, they'll take time but they'll heal. And as for what happened with Duncan and Courtney, it turned out okay and now their relationship is even stronger as a result."

"But worst of all, by doing those things that I did I disgraced Carlos' memory by becoming exactly what he taught me not to become: Jose."

"...Yeah. I know." Adam was grinding his teeth and gripping his fist so hard that his palm started to bleed "That in itself is something that makes me see red when I do so much as think about that. It's something that I'll never be able to completely forgive you for, but that doesn't mean that you can't forgive yourself. And besides, to let someone lose himself because of their past mistakes when I know that I could've done something to help him and prevent that is something that I would never be able to forgive myself for." he held out his hand "I cannot guarantee you total salvation, all I can do for you is direct you down the same path on which Carlos had previously directed me, out of the shadows and into the light. Will you choose to walk that path to the bitter end with me, or will you forego it and remain where you are now? Will you stand by me and fight to protect what you hold precious?"

"I…" Alejandro slowly reached out and accepted his hand "I will."

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 **(And now back to the present)**

Adam shrugged slightly "I mean granted I did keep that from everyone except Bridge, Cody and a few others for over year but the point is that I'm not going to give up on you which means I can't and won't let you give up on yourself."

"...Perhaps you do have the right idea." Alejandro let out a sigh "For so long I have only been feeling sorry for myself because I felt that I had disgraced Carlos' legacy, but I was wrong because you _are_ his legacy."

"We both are. Come on let's go, you have training to do."

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Aurora's eyes snapped open and she exited her meditation "I could sense the dimensional disturbance, I was wondering when you would

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Adam watched as Alejandro sat back down in front of the Waterfall of Light "Well I did what I could Carlos, now it's up to Alejandro to see this through."

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Alejandro opened his eyes, which were now filled with a steeled resolve ' _There is only one way that I can vanquish this foe.'_

Out from behind the waterfall stepped Dark Alejandro in all of his evil glory "So you've come back for more have you? You can try and fight me as much as you want, the end result is never going to change. You cannot defeat me."

"Believe me I am well aware that attempting to defeat you with force is not going to work. I learned that the hard way the last time, physically the two of us are exactly the same."

"And you will not be able to drive me out either, I know you better than anyone else could ever know you."

"So then you already know of the decision that I have made."

"And pray tell, what decision would that be?"

"Don't try to fool me into believing that you don't know, this so called Waterfall of Light because it reveals the light and the darkness within your heart correct? Then you know who my light is supposed to be." he gestured to where a certain figure appeared in a white light standing behind him, revealed to be a silhouette of Carlos, followed by a silhouette of Adam, Cody and the others.

"You bastard…"

"How could I expect to trust them if I couldn't even trust myself? I can't live in the past because I cannot change what happened, all I can do is learn from my mistakes and look to the future that lies ahead."

"Callate! So what if you don't want to live in the past anymore? What's to stop you from doing all of those things again and again? They're just helping you to deceive yourself, not only did you disgrace yourself and your family but you proved yourself to be just as bad as Jose, the one that they always fawned over as if he were some sort of god! Carlos was the only one who accepted us and acknowledged us for who we are and we thanked him by disgracing him! I am the only one who will ever truly understand how you felt! Now that he is gone you have no one, you can't trust any of them!"

Alejandro held up a hand "Perhaps, the other people in my life are important but before I can get to them there is someone else that I have to learn to trust more first. What I have to do right now is have more faith in myself, I need to have faith in the me that Carlos believed in, that Adam had always believed in even when we were at war with each other."

"But… But…" Dark Alejandro fell to his knees, his voice becoming wrecked and wracked with strangled sobs "Why… Why? After everything that we've done…"

"I was able to realize it by watching Adam, even as he feels himself being pulled down into the depths of his own darkness he always has faith in others and he has always had pride in those he loves in this world."

"Do you… Do you believe me to just be something in your way?! What exactly did I mean to you?!"

"The reason I became as strong as I am right now is because you existed, it's thanks to you that I got to where I am right now."

"So then what now? If you don't need me anymore then what am I supposed to do from now on?!" Dark Alejandro charged forward and let a fist fly.

"The answer to that question is a simple one." Alejandro just caught Dark Alejandro in a simple hug "You just have to become a part of me, just like you've always been. Thank you for everything that you've done for me up until now but it's alright, you don't have to suffer alone anymore."

Dark Alejandro said nothing, his arms fell limp at his sides and he just quietly evaporated into nothing.

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Alejandro opened his eyes and stared at his palms ' _You don't have to suffer all by yourself, not when you have people beside you willing to share your pain.'_

"Unfortunately it is too early for you to celebrate." Aurora revealed her presence from where she was standing behind him "At least that is what I would like to say but before I do I have to say this, well done."

"Lady Aurora… so what do I do now?"

"Now you just have to withstand what comes next."

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Adam stood in the main hall of the Sanctum face to face with a blonde figure clad in armor with a sword sheathed at his side "You know when Aurora told me you were here I figured she was just trying to get rid of me but here you are, the first Forever Knight himself Sir George with no traces of helmet hair."

Sure enough, before him stood Sir George in all of his knight like glory "I will tell you what I told Young Master Tennyson, I condition."

"So why are you here now?"

"The time to slay the Diagon and his forces draws near, before I can make my stand against him though I must make sure my potential successor is ready."

"And what do you think then?"

"Your strength is great in body and in mind, however I could sense before the same thing that I sense now. Your conviction is beginning to waver, you have doubts in your own strength of your will. Why? What is it in your heart that makes you doubt yourself so?"

"...I'm guessing Aurora told you about my thing with Mal?" he received a nod "Look I keep having doubts even though people tell me not to time and time again, I've gotten this whole spiel from Cody, from Alejandro, hell even from Ben Tennyson himself. But still, the doubts in myself don't go away and if anything they just keep getting stronger. I promised the woman I love and my little brother that I wouldn't let myself be consumed by vengeance, but despite that I can't help but wonder. Will I be able to keep that promise or will my anger and hatred for Mal take me over and cost me everything? If I end up losing control then not only could I end up killing myself, but I would end up killing Mike too and that's what I'm so desperate to avoid. I don't know if I can do it, and the thought of that chills me to the core."

"You must not give in to despair, if you wish to defeat this demon that plagues you and save your friend. Young Master Tennyson never gave up and he still has not and I do not intend to give up on my quest to slay the Diagon."

"Yeah well that's different."

"How then, how is that different Young Master Anderson?"

"Because I'm not some great hero like you or Ben! My heart is too tainted my hatred, I've tried to swear off vengeance time and time again but I still feel the hatred burning inside of my heart and I still hear the voice in the back of my head telling me to go after Mike and finish it right there and then. That voice is trying to tell me to kill my best friend! It's telling me to just let go, to give in, to choose revenge. I am no hero Sir George, because I am not deserving of a title like that."

"...No, perhaps you are not."

Adam's head snapped towards him.

"But perhaps there is another title that you are worthy of. A knight."

"Like you, the hero who has his own story from a thousand years ago that he can't even take credit for?"

"Touche, but no. What I see you as Young Master Anderson, is a knight. A knight and a hero are not the same thing, at least not entirely. A hero is one who is willing to give his life for the sake of even a complete stranger and mainly revolves around protecting any and all innocents, whereas a knight would do the same but mostly revolves around protecting their king and their kingdom. What is the king that you must protect?"

"I've already heard this before, thank you anime. The king is the one that I strive to protect with every fiber of my being, it has no real definition because everyone thinks of their own king differently."

"Precisely."

"But what if I can't?"

"You must hold onto hope and with that hope you must be able to lead by example. If not for your own sake then for the sake of those who believe in you. Do more than just fight for then, live for them, be there for them, protect them from their own inner demons. Promise then that you will live a full life. Live your dreams for their sake. Tell me, what did you want to do with your life?"

"...Well I always did thing about getting married, having 2 kids and maybe becoming a teacher on some kind of level. At least before all of that Mal stuff happened."

"Then do it for their sake, only then you will be able to find happiness. Before you can become a true knight, you must clear up your personal affairs." he put a hand on Adam's shoulder "Now come, let us be off."

"Where to?"

"To where the next piece of your knight's armor lies, we will be going to the great Cosmic Ocean of Varuna." Sir George cut open a portal using Ascalon "Well then, shall we Young Master Anderson?"

"Fine by me, let's get moving."

"Hold on." a new voice cut in.

Adam looked back and saw Bridgette appear, with Daniel right behind her "Bridge I thought you were training."

"I was, and now I'm finished with it." she materialized two water claws in her hands and dematerialized them in an instant "So I'm going with you."

"...I don't have any say in this do I?"

"No."

"Fine, Sir George this is my girlfriend Bridgette. Bridge this is Sir George, the first Forever Knight from the Ben 10 dimension."

"A pleasure madam. Now come, let us make haste." so Sir George ushered them into the portal and followed them into it, and the portal closed right behind them.

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Aurora watched as Alejandro, with glowing red marks covering his body, writhed on the ground in agonizing pain "You have to stay strong Bridgette, I know the pain is intense but you still have a long way to go. The greater potential one has locked away inside of them the longer the process will take. And what brings you here Daniel?"

Sure enough, Daniel stood behind her "I finished unlocking Bridgette's Second Origin and she left with the boy and the knight to the Cosmic Ocean of Varuna."

"I see. And you sense the darkness that approaches them?"

"I do."

"The time to slay the Diagon draws near, the forces of the Esoterica approach." this was followed by several Esoterica figures "Oh joy, an ambush. I absolutely love a good ambush."

"Sarcasm was never your fortee Aurora."

"Like it's yours either."

"To think Masters of the Mystic Arts are any better." a cloaked figure appeared before them, her hood covering her face.

"Protect Alejandro as he undergoes the releasing process, I will deal with the likes of them myself." Aurora started firing off blasts of blue colored energy at random Esoterica, taking several of them out left and right.

The cloaked figure dodged them with ease "One of the most basic abilities of the Mystic Arts, manipulating life energy, or Mana as it's known to most. But now I know where my target is and so I will be taking my leave. Esoterica, retreat!" and so she fled, with all of the other Esoterica attempting to do the same.

Aurora however managed to catch one before they could get away "As I had expected, their teleportation abilities cannot pass through Mana energy. Now tell me, what is it that you came here for?"

"You don't scare me woman, I have nothing to say to you." the Esoterica snarled.

"Hold that thought." Aurora held up a black sphere of energy to his face "Now let us try this again, what did you come here for?"

"...The time is at hand, Milady brought us to destroy what she deemed a threat to the coming of the great Diagon."

"And who is your lady?"

"One of the two heralds of the great Diagon, the one who came before Vilgax himself. No one knows her real name, all we know is that her life was destroyed by two she deems to be worse than the devil himself."

"...I see. Well then tell her this, Daniel and I have no intention of stopping your master from entering this reality, five others have been set on that path." she sent it through another portal and looked away, drifting away with her thoughts ' _Adam, you must hurry if you wish to protect your world.'_

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A portal opened and Sir George stepped out, with Adam and Bridgette following right behind him, onto a section of ground in the area "Here we are young ones, the Cosmic Ocean of Varuna."

Bridgette looked on in awe "It's so beautiful…"

"Indeed fair lady, a vast interstellar liquid nebula in a region of the cosmos unlike anything else in the universe. Azmuth showed it to me once as thanks for vanquising the Diagon the way that I did 1,000 years ago. Here in its depths likes the next piece of your armor Young Master Anderson, here lies the Wind Stormers."

"So what should we expect here?" asked Adam "To be honest I might have skipped this episode of Ninja Turtles."

"...Putting that aside, Varuna is the home of the Daagon, ancient beings as old as the universe itself and allies of both the Utrom and the Masters of the Mystic Arts, the former of whom had entrusted them with the protection of the Wind Stormers."

"I just hope they did a better job protecting this than the Aeons did with the first piece of the Black Hole Generator."

"They did."

"Good. Hey by the way, how is it that we're breathing in here?"

"You may thank Ascalon for that, with the power of the sword I can erect a barrier around us that protects us from potential suffocation or freezing to death."

"Neat. But seriously though, I know the Daagon are allies of the Utrom and the Masters of the Mystic Arts but how do we know they can really count on them to help us?"

"Because the Daagon are an ancient and noble race that pride themselves on their honor so I have no doubts in my mind that they will, so long as we prove ourselves worthy of their comradeship." this was followed by several Daagon soldiers preparing to close in on the three of them with their weapons drawn.

"You got this?"

"Indeed I do Young Master Anderson." Sir George held up a symbol "Hear my noble Daagon warriors, this is the symbol of the Masters of the Mystic Arts." this prompted them to stand down and kneel before him.

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It wasn't long before the group was being by the Daagon warriors to the palace area of Varuna to meet the queen.

The queen Hiidrala turned around to face them "Who enters the realm to seek a personal audience with Hiidrala, the supreme ruler of the Daagon?"

Sir George got down on one knee and motioned for Adam and Bridgette to do the same "I bid you greetings your majesty. I am Sir George of the Forever Knights of the planet Earth of the first of the ten dimensions, and these are my two companions. Young Master Adam Anderson, the prophesized warrior of the Hurricane as foretold by the Masters of the Mystic Arts, as well as Lady Bridgette Connors, the one who bears the power of the Cosmic Elemental of Water." he held up the symbol of the Masters of the Mystic Arts from the planet Earth of the eight dimension, we seek the famed cuisses and boots known as the Wind Stormers that you have in your possession that the Masters of the Mystic Arts had entrusted to you millenia ago."

"...You may rise."

"Thank you your majesty." so they stood.

"The Masters of the Mystic Arts had entrusted the fragment to me which gives Hiidrala ultimate say over it, are you truly worthy to claim pieces of armor of such devastating power? Tell me, who among you is the leader?"

"That would be me." Adam stepped forward.

"You? You are a mere child, how are you worthy?"

"I never said I was worthy, because to be blunt I do not believe myself to be."

"Then why have you come here?"

"Because of them." he gestured back to Bridgette and Sir George "I cannot speak for the worthiness of myself, but I can speak for the worthiness of those two. I know for a fact that their intentions are noble, that their hearts are pure. While I may be young and inexperienced with a heart tainted by hatred, I have seen them do many amazing things for our world regardless of what they seek, whether that be recognition, redemption, perhaps even love. If you place your faith in them then I give you my word that they will not let you down, all I ask is that you give them one chance."

"...Very well boy, I will grant you and your companions this chance. If you desire the Wind Stormers then you must face Cthugga, an ancient beast that obeys me and me alone. If you are indeed worthy of the Wind Stormers then the beast will sense this and let you take the Wind Stormers freely, but if you are not…"

"Then the beast will kill us on the spot. I accept this challenge."

"You realize that if you are truly as unworthy as you claim to be then the beast will devour you whole."

"That's nothing that I'm not used to."

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It wasn't long before the three of them were making their way towards where the Cthugga had been said to be residing.

Bridgette noticed Adam looking like he was lost in thought "Hey Adam what's up, is there something on your mind?"

Adam let out a sigh "What do you think it means to be truly worthy?"

"Well I think that we all have good and noble hearts, that would have to count for something doesn't it?"

"Yeah if you actually do have a noble heart that isn't tainted by hatred, and I'm sure that all of the Esoterica that are about to ambush agree with me."

"You don't give yourself enough credit- Wait what was that?"

"Go ahead and see for yourself." he gestured to where the Esoterica were surrounding them on all sides.

"Be ready young ones." Sir George drew Ascalon from its sheath "Something dire has yet to appear."

"Yeah I know, one of them is hiding in between dimensions and that one is a lot more powerful than the rest of these foot soldiers. Alright big guy get your ass out here and show yourself already."

Sure enough, the cloak figure revealed herself, albeit with her cloak still covering her face like before "To think you've actually come this far, Adam Anderson."

"And who the hell are you supposed to be?"

"Someone who has spent the last year thinking of only one thing: seeing your demise in order to get my revenge for the humiliation and suffering that you inflicted on me." the figure snapped her fingers and several other Esoterica soldiers appeared beside her, though instead of being gold, red and black colored, these were green and grey with gelatinous like appearances, with red markings on their masks instead of the usual black ones "Your newfound power is impressive but not even some as formidable as you could defeat myself and all of these elite Esoterica at once, not when they've been merged with the Lucubra servants of the mighty Diagon. Also there may be one more thing that you want to consider." she lowered her hood, revealing a head of long purple hair.

"Oh god, I thought this feeling seemed familiar. See even before I had all of these powers I could sense the presence of people through the vibrations in the ground and in the air, it was a little something that Carlos taught me while I was still recovering from my first fight with Mal all those years ago. I could sense your rising insanity and brain melting obsession from across the 10 dimensions… Sierra."

Sure enough, the figure took off her mask to reveal herself as Sierra "You would rather die than let me get to the one I love, the one that is destined to be mine whether he likes it or not. My darling Cody. On the other hand the great Diagon is a different story, it was with his wisdom and guidance that I was able to heal my shattered soul after you and Alejandro forced me off of that plane over a year ago which left him vulnerable to the horrific temptations of that little c**t of a goth Gwen!" (Yeah that's right, bitch said the C word. I went there.)

"Yeah well at least she never fantasized about raping him, and even if Gwen wasn't in the picture there's no way I'd ever let you of all people get anywhere near him. What did you come here thinking that I would actually help you so that you could gut me while my back was turned and then do the same to Alejandro? Do you actually think I'm that stupid?"

"I think you know a good opportunity when you see it in front of you, you do what I say and I won't kill her just to spite you." she pointed at Bridgette, causing Adam's fist to clench "Let me make something clear to you, if you refuse my terms then she is going to suffer the consequences of your poor decisions."

"Oh someone is gonna suffer but it's not gonna be her, you don't scare me Sierra and you never will." he got into a stance as his Hurricane Gauntlets began crackling with electricity "You and your boy toys come at me, if you're an enemy of my friends then that makes you an enemy of me too and that's a fatal mistake."

Sir George studied Adam for a moment, then looked down at Ascalon at his side, and he managed a small smile ' _So it would seem that the sword does find him worthy and the sword does not lie, it recognizes within him the spirit of a true knight._

"You think I need those things?" Sierra tossed aside her robe, revealing black markings like the other Esoterica had, covering her entire body "Diagon may have shown me the true reason for my suffering but he is simple a means to an end and I use the power he granted me for one sole reason, to take you down once and for all and make you suffer the way that I suffered."

"Am I supposed to be scared?"

"Taking me on with the powers granted to me by Diagon along with all of these elite warriors of the Esoterica would be akin to suicide, I spent the past year learning of the best ways that I could find to bring you to your knees but if you don't believe me then go ahead and test my power and see what happens."

"There's something that you really oughta think about too Sierra, you're not the only one who's been doing their homework."

"What is that supposed to mean, you know about the Esoterica and the might of Diagon like it's second nature?"

"I spent years watching cartoons with Cody you idiot, of course I know that. Not to mention that I've fought Vilgax himself while he was wielding Ascalon."

"No that's… that's not true, if you knew that I was up to something like that then why didn't you bother to act on it before now?"

"I thought the answer would be obvious. You're not a threat to me Sierra, you never have been and you never will be. And don't even bother to try and make yourself out to be the victim because you didn't get to be with Cody. Well guess what, tough shit. Not everyone gets a happy ending but that doesn't give you the right to take it out on others and blame them for your own mistakes. Go ahead and accuse me of lowering myself to your level but that's not the way that I see it, if you just go around like you're the only one suffering and you just hurt whoever the hell that you want then that makes you nothing more than the worthless dirt beneath my feet. No wonder Cody never even wanted to look at you."

"SHUT UP!" Sierra started firing random energy blasts at Adam "I'm a smart and capable woman who doesn't deserve to have someone like you ruin my life the way that you have! I don't care what I have to do, you will suffer and I will make Cody mine even if I have to force him to do it! One way or another I will get what I deserve out of life!"

"On that we can agree." with his body crackling with blue electricity all over, Adam blitzed forward with Shatterstorm in hand "Here's a little lesson for you crazy, the next time you threaten someone I love don't do it right in front of my face!" he took out two of the elite Esoterica soldiers with one kick each.

"Do it! Kill him now!" Sierra had the other remaining elite Esoterica attack him with barrages of energy blasts and tentacles extending from their hands "They've got you now!"

"You'd think so wouldn't you?" Adam threw Shatterstorm into the air "Now then… **Cosmic… Lightning… ROAR!"** he breathed out a blast of lightning, killing off the last of the elite Esoterica soldiers with one strike.

"What the- How did you get so strong?! I took extreme care with merging those Esoterica with the Lucubras and made sure they were strong enough to kill you!"

"Yeah well look at how that shit turned out." Adam stepped forward "I don't know what you thought you were going to accomplish and frankly I don't care, there's only one thing that you're gonna get is a shock to your system." he held out a hand to stop Bridgette "Don't say it, I know what I said and I do not regret referencing Static Shock in such a tacky way."

"SHUT UP!" by this point whatever sanity Sierra had was pretty much gone "I am a smart and capable woman who does not deserve to be trampled on like this, I deserve respect, love and the best out of life and I won't let some worthless trash like you stop me from getting all that I deserve!" she fired a large blast of energy.

Adam backhanded it away, sending it out of the Cosmic Ocean and sending it out into the cold void of space to detonate harmlessly "Remember this Sierra, if anyone dares to threaten my friends then they'll get no mercy from me! **Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: Shatter Bolt!"** with one hand he guided Shatterstorm down from the heavens above, sending her crashing into one of the floating islands surrounding them, leaving her drenched in her own blood "And that's how you unleash the full power of lightning beyond lightning, eat your heart out Laxus." he went over to Sierra's downed form and slung her over his shoulder "Alright come on guys, let's go."

"We're still going to face Cthugga?" asked Bridgette.

"Nope, we're taking this one here back to Hiidrala so she can decide what to do with her. We'll see what to do after that."

"You realize that she may very well consider you unworthy if you do this." Sir George pointed out.

"Yeah I know. Look Sierra came here looking for me to get back at me for whatever the hell is going through her sick twisted head, her coming here is my fault so I'm going to choose to take responsibility for it and if that means giving up these Wind Stormers then so be it."

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It wasn't long before the group, with Sierra in tow, now bound by chains, had returned to the palace of Varuna, being met with looks of questioning from the Daagon warriors eying them.

Hiidrala looked down at the bound form of Sierra with disdain "I will not allow such a reckless fool or scum that would dare to worship the Diagon to desecrate my ocean paradise, you shall pay for your crimes girl." then she levelled her gaze on Adam and the others "And as for all of you…"

Adam held up a hand to stop her "You don't have to say it because I already know, we failed your test. We didn't even face Cthugga, not that they would've passed if I had been with them anyway."

"And you chose to bring this girl to me yourself. Why?"

"Regardless of whatever their objective might have been the fact is that they invaded your home and attacked your people, that alone gives you the right to punish them as you see fit. But you know I should thank you your majesty, it was thanks to my visit here that I was able to get the blood pumping enough to realize something."

"And what would that be?"

"It doesn't matter if I'm worthy or not, I'd throw all of it away in a heartbeat and I won't let it stop me from protecting my friends. If I don't have them to remind me of who I am then my life would be meaningless, so I'd throw my life away in order to protect them worthy or not. So go ahead and keep your Wind Stormers locked away forever, I'll beat Metallum without them if I have to."

"...I see, it would appear that your actions validate the truth of the swords that Sir George had spoken to me beforehand about you." she let out a shriek, which prompted a Daagon warrior to enter the room with a set of metal boots "The Wind Stormers intended for only a knight truly worthy of such power, they now belong to you."

"Seriously? But I've repeatedly told you that I'm not worthy."

"Your actions speak otherwise, your soul is noble and pure and fitting of a warrior."

"...Well if you think so." this was followed by Sierra bursting out laughing "And what the hell do you find so funny?"

Sierra shot him a smirk filled with venom "It's just that the one who will do what I couldn't is about to approach, and even though I couldn't do it myself I take great comfort knowing that someone will do the job for me." and then she disappeared between the dimensions.

Adam would've commented if he wasn't frozen in place "This power… this overwhelming feeling of hatred… Guys get ready, he's coming!" he drew Shatterstorm off of his back without a second thought.

Sure enough, a large figure dropped to the ground like a bullet, his voice cutting through the air like a knife "At long last…" the figure emerged from the smoke, revealing itself to be a hideous hulking figure with glowing green eyes, a metal mask across his face with his teeth being visible on the side of the mouth, his body being hulking and muscular with blade sticking out from virtually everywhere, blue veins also being visible in various spots and areas "After all of these millenia, your meddling and interference comes to an end. Look upon me boy and know the same fear that your predecessors have experienced thousands of times before you."

"So that means that you're the Metallum that I've heard so much about. Carlos definitely wasn't overselling it, you really are a monster both inside and out."

"And it is fitting that you perish the same way that the Burromuerto did one year ago, by my blades. I want you to suffer thousands of times worse than he did, I will enjoy your screams even more than I had enjoyed his."

"Enough of this farce Metallum." Hiidrala let out an outright snarl "You dare to desecrate and disgrace my ocean paradise with your mere presence, you shall pay for your crimes against all of the 10 dimensions."

"I shall deal with you Hiidrala as soon as this boy staines the ground beneath my feet with his blood."

"We'll see about that ugly!" Adam charged at Metallum and fired off several punches, kicks and slashes from Shatterstorm, none of which fazed his foe in the slightest.

Metallum grabbed Adam by the ankle and slammed him to the ground, causing him to cough up blood.

"Adam! Let him go! **Water Slicer!"** Bridgette fired off a barrage of water blades forward through the air.

Metallum received a few shallow scratches, but aside from that he wasn't damaged "So you received a Lacrime filled with Kaiyo's power did you girl? No matter, you cannot attain the full transformation with only one Lacrima and either way you will still die by my hand after the boy does."

"NOT ON YOUR LIFE! **Cosmic… Tempest… CLAW!"** furious over Bridgette being threatened, Adam dealt Metallum a sharp wind enhanced kick to the face, sending him stumbling back a few feet "You know if I were anyone else then I'd try to snap your neck just for saying that, but since I promised my mentor I wouldn't let myself get consumed by vengeance I'll say this once. Get out of here and end this madness."

"Foolish child, now that you know who your master is you would do anything to save your own self." Metallum grabbed Adam by the ankle and began repeatedly slamming him down into the ground like Hulk did to Loki in the first Avengers movie, slashing him across his body with his blades as he did so, leaving Adam lying on the ground bleeding profusely "At long last the time has come to make sure that my ambition comes to fruition, now I will end your worthless existence!" he pounced at Adam with his blades drawn, his intent to kill.

However, Adam threw his Shatterstorm forward at full speed, the impact sending Metallum skidding backwards, though not wounding him, so Adam attempted to manipulate Shatterstorm so it would behead Metallum in one swift stroke.

Metallum caught the blade of Shatterstorm in his hand, cracking it upon the impact "Foolish child, as if a weapon such as this one would stop me."

"That… That's not possible…"

"Remember this if nothing else child, you know nothing of what is possible." and just by flexing his hand, Metallum shattered the blade of Shatterstorm in an instant, leaving its remains to fall to the ground.

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The reactions to the one sided battle were shared amongst most, if not all, of the witnesses.

Bridgette's expression was one of clear horror "This is bad, Adam is getting thrashed out there and it's like Metallum is barely even trying. He's just too powerful, I've gotta help him!" she prepared to rush out to aid him.

"No madam, you mustn't." Sir George held out one arm in front to stop her "You cannot, at least not yet."

"But if we don't do something then Adam will-"

"I am aware of this, we will jump in to save him but not before we are given a moment of opportunity."

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Metallum threw the remains of Shatterstorm to the ground "If that is the best champion that could be produced by Earth then your species and world are both doomed."

"Doom this! **Cosmic Lightning… ELECTRIC FIST!"** Adam dealt Metallum a lightning enhanced uppercut to the jaw, only to be pierced through the shoulder by his blades, causing blood to spew all over the two of them, then grabbed Adam by the throat "Now, after all of these millennia of endless insanity, my nightmares of your proud, leering and loathsome and arrogant face will finally come to an end!" he prepared to thrust his blades forward into Adam's throat and kill him, when…

"Have at thee!" just in the nick of time, Sir George charged in and slashed at Metallum using his sword Ascalon, cutting off a few blades in the process, while a few Daagon warriors managed to take Adam out of the range of the battle and several others attacked Metallum.

"You shall not escape boy!" Metallum fired off a barrage of metal blades from all over his body, skewing several Daagon warriors closing in on him and killing them, leaving their corpses impaled on his blades.

Sir George managed to deflect a few projectiles aimed at Adam "You shall not slay the boy when the first knight Sir George still draws breath."

"Then I shall slay you first one who defeated the Diagon, and then I shall kill the boy with my blades and then my nightmares will at last end!"

"You need not worry about such a thing monster." Sir George braced himself with Ascalon "I shall end your nightmares for you, and I shall do so permanently!" he charged at Metallum and fired a blast of energy from Ascalon.

Metallum defleced the blast with one hand, grabbed Sir George by the hair and threw him to the ground, then thrusted himself forward in an attempt to skewer Sir George using the blades sticking out of his hands "You will not leave this place with your life!" he violently stomped down on Sir George's torso, causing him to cough up blood.

Sir George unleashed a powerful blast of wind from the blade of Ascalon, blowing Metallum away and allowing him (Sir George) to get back to his feet ' _This beast is formidable, I doubt I can defeat him on my own.'_

"You will die, and then the boy will as well, only his will be thousands of times more agonizing than anything else you could imagine." he fired off a barrage of metal blades and pounced forward at full speed.

Rather than deflect the blades, Sir George used Ascalon to open a portal and send the blades back at him, dealing Metallum a few scratches across his front which was followed by all of the blades sticking out of him suddenly disappearing as his body began glowing orange ' _What is the meaning of this? This feeling is different from before.'_

"Now you shall die." Metallum blitzed in front of Sir George and dealt him a fierce smash attack to the head, sending him tumbling to the ground "Remember this so called knight, there will always be someone above you. If you wish to change that then you must find the greatest source of power in the universe so that you can stand above all others."

"Yes… perhaps you speak the truth…" Sir George staggered back to his feet "However… what you seemed… to have forgotten… is that the one… who has surpassed you… May very well be… right in front of you!" he suddenly burst forward and dealt Metallum a fierce slash across the face, knocking him backwards ' _If my theory is correct then he cannot use the power of more than one Cosmic Lacrima at a time without the use of a Cosmic Elemental Fusion like the way that the original Wind and Lightning Cosmic Elementals did. I can use that to my advantage, at least to buy some time.'_ he looked over at a water dome ' _Bridgette is using her water powers to create a shield while Hiidrala and the Daagon heal Adam's wounds and allow him to tap into the power of the Wind Stormers."_

"So you have caught on then." Metallum's body was surrounded by a crimson glow and he summoned two balls of black flames in his hands "Then I shall break your spirit first!" he aimed at the water shield and fired the black flames forward.

Sir George rushed in front of them and took the blow but wasn't able to deflect all of the blades in time, resulting in a deep gash across his shoulder and his leg, his armor being covered in blood as a result ' _Curses…'_

"Your weakness is that you care about the well being of others when you should only be worried about yourself, only when you tear all weaknesses away can you surpass yourself and become all powerful!"

"You wanna bet?" a new voice thundered.

Metallum's eyes shot forward "What?! You were on the brink of death, I know you were! There is no way you could recover so quickly, Cosmic Elemental power or not!"

Sure enough, from within the water dome emerged none other than Adam, now sporting a set of metal boots, with his hair a shade of electric blue and his eyes the purest white, his body crackling with electricity and radiating strong winds "So are you ready for round two?" he put one hand behind his back.

' _This power, no it couldn't be… Could it? It must be, that is the only explanation for his acquisition of so much power in so little time! He's tapped into the Cosmic Force!'_

"I think I get it now Sir George, I get what you were trying to tell me. Maybe I'm not a hero and I never even wanted to be, but that doesn't mean I can't be a knight. To be a true knight is to follow your moral code even if it kills you, follow your heart wherever it may lead you, to stand your ground against the strongest of foes, and above all to protect the king that you hold precious to the bitter end!" he gripped his fists and looked down at himself ' _This form again, only now it's way stronger than it was when I fought Vilgax before. I can feel the pulse of the wind, I can hear the voice of the thunder coursing through my veins!_ You were wrong Metallum, what you said before to Sir George couldn't be further from the truth. The fact that people care about others isn't their greatest weakness, it's our greatest strength. It's the main reason why I'm about to defeat you." he suddenly blitzed out of sight.

"Where did he-?!"

"Up here!" Adam dealt Metallum a sharp kick to the back of the head, followed by a fierce uppercut to the jaw " **Cosmic Tempest… CRUSHING FANG!"** he dealt Metallum several wind enhanced blows to the face, torso and upper part of his body, ripping off several of Metallum's blades as he did so "Is that all you've got?"

"Don't… you dare… MOCK ME!" Metallum suddenly grew more blades out of his body and dealt Adam a fierce uppercut, slashing him across the face and sending him tumbling backwards across the palace "Tell me, is this how you choose to die boy? Lying on your belly like a weak willed animal?"

Adam pulled himself to his feet but began coughing up blood ' _This is bad, even with my new Wind Stormers I'm already at my limit. I've probably only got enough strength left for one last big attack, I'll have to make it count if I want this to work._ Come on Metallum, let's end this already."

"Very well then boy, do you have any last words before you die?" Metallum summoned more blades and charged at him at full speed.

"A few actually. **Cosmic Elemental… Secret Art… Shattered Light… SKY DRILL!"** using the last of his power that he could summon, Adam unleashed a massive tornado made of his Cosmic wind power, blowing Metallum clear out of the palace "NOW!"

"Right!" right on cue, Sir George opened a portal in the middle of the cosmic ocean that immediately engulfed Metallum, and it disappeared not long after.

"Yes… It's over…" Adam promptly fell on his back and returned to his normal form "It's really over… You did it… Sir George…"

"No Young Master Anderson, you did it."

"I guess, but you know what I said was true. I never did think that I could be a hero since I didn't feel like I had what it takes to just put aside."

"Adam!" Bridgette rushed over and caught him in a bone crushing hug, then pushed him against his chest "Don't ever scare me like that again!"

"I make no such promises."

"...You're really unbelievable sometimes you know that? So what happened to Metallum anyway?"

"Oh it was a quick plan I came up with while Hiidrala and those Daagon warriors were putting on the Wind Stormers for me, see in this one superhero cartoon that Gwen's little brother watches called the Super Hero Squad Show, Ms Marvel gained Captain Marvel's cosmic power and used it to create a portal and trap the Silver Surfer, who was corrupted by the Infinity Stones and became the Dark Surfer, in the Negative Zone. I figured that since Ascalon is able to make portals according to the Ben 10 website Sir George could conjure up a portal to send Metallum into the well known space between the 10 dimensions, the Void. It won't hold him forever though, just long enough until we can get strong enough to defeat him."

"And I have no doubt in my mind that you will get stronger, far stronger." Hiidrala made her way towards them "Tell me Adam, Son of Ander, how are you now?"

"I've been better but I've also been a lot worse, what about you?"

"I am unharmed, as are many all of my subjects thanks to you. The three of you fought bravely to protect our kingdom and its people not just from the followers of Daagon, but from the Cosmic Elemental of Metal as well, and for that you have our deepest gratitude, especially mine."

"It was nothing, really. I just do what I think is right, that still doesn't mean that I'm worthy or these things."

"Actually it does. Your actions validate the truth of your words in regards to your comrades, but they clash with what you say about yourself. You are worthy and a noble warrior of great honor and moral clarity, and for that the Daagon will forever honor you."

"...Well if you say so." he bowed in respect "Thank you your majesty."

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It wasn't long before the group had returned to their home dimension (or home dimensions if you count Sir George), and everything had settled down for a little bit.

Bridgette was taking with Adam back in their apartment "So Sir George went back to Ben 10's dimension?"

Adam nodded "Yeah, he said that now that Diagon is prepared to make his move he'll have to mobilize the Forever Knights to fight off the Esoterica while he fights the Diagon. Which does bring up one problem."

"Sierra."

"Yeah. She's allied with Diagon just to get back at me, that means that it's my responsibility to help him bring her down."

"So what are we gonna do?"

"I think what we should do is once Alejandro is finished with his Second Origin training, we'll grab him and Cody and then we'll head over to that dimension and fight Sierra, Vilgax, Diagon or whatever is waiting for us there. Plus in the meantime Aurora said that she has something that'll be perfect for me to work on mastering my Cosmic Force power in a way shorter period of time."

"Really, what is it?"

"It's something called a Time Dilation Zone, apparently it's some kind of isolated pocket dimension that can only be accessed through something called a Transportation Lacrima

"You know you sound like you're not doubting yourself anymore."

"Oh the doubt is still there, I'm just kind of learning how to deal with it. And you know, despite the fact that I know he's going to be killed by Diagon I'm grateful that I got to meet Sir George, I guess he's the leader of the Forever Knights for a reason. Plus he taught me a few other things too, like before I can become the best Warrior of the Hurricane I can be I'm going to have to become the best Adam Anderson I can be first. I have a lot of responsibilities to fulfill to my friends, to Cody as an older brother and to you as a devoted boyfriend. And it's because of the responsibilities I bare that I've made a decision."

"Which is?"

"...I'm going to tell Devin and Carrie the Light about Mal, and I mean the whole Light. And with any luck they'll have the guts to make out once my back is turned, and once they get home with the million bucks in their pockets we'll celebrate their newfound all around victories Phineas and Ferb Summer Belongs to You style."

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter was focused mainly on Bridgette and Alejandro, or more specifically their training, and Adam, Bridgette and Sir George journeying to the Cosmic Ocean of Varuna in the Turtles dimension in order to acquire the Windstormers from Hiidrala, so this chapter could be considered a partial crossover with TMNT, only not with any of the actual Turtles.**

 **I know the continuity might seem a little bit screwy with this chapter so let me try and clear up a few things: The first part of the chapter takes place when Bridgette is undergoing her water training with her father, before and during the events of chapter 22 while Adam is off in the Ben 10 dimension.**

 **The Second Origin training is based on the same concept as in Fairy Tail, when it's used on someone unleashed the dormant power within the recipient, and the more dormant power someone has the longer the process takes, but the process itself is excruciatingly painful.**

 **Okay, just to clear things up since I'm not sure how clearly I explained it before, Bridgette cannot take on a full Cosmic Force transformation (or Cosmic Knight in case of Adam) because she only has the power of one of the Cosmic Water Lacrima in her body, and in order to be able to take on the complete form one would need at least two, otherwise the form would be incomplete, like with Goku when he attained Ultra Instinct -Sign-. That's part of the reason why Adam's transformation is so powerful, he technically has the power of four Cosmic Lacrima in his body. Plus he keeps tapping further and further into it each time he transforms, hence why his appearance when he transforms is different compared to before. In chapter 22 he had white hair and blue eyes, now he has blue hair and white eyes, the complete inverse. Next time he does it both his hair and his eyes will be blue.**

 **Alejandro's trial with the Waterfall of Light is based on the same thing from Naruto: Shippuden with the Waterfall of Truth. I thought it would help for him to confront his inner demons and his shame over his actions in the Rise of an Underdog, what with hurting and screwing over all the people that he did and for disgracing Carlos' memory the way that he did. As for him learning the secrets of Kung Fu from Kung Fu Panda thanks to those scrolls that Cody gave him,**

 **The fact that the Esoterica attack the Daagon is meant to link this to the war against the Diagon in the next Ben 10 chapter of this series, plus I had to have someone attack them in order to replace Lord Dregg and the fact that Sierra appeared was just icing on the cake for me, especially now that she's gone off the deep end because Cody rejected her and now she blames it on Adam and Alejandro for getting rid of her in Total Drama World Tour. I needed someone to add in there and let's face it, that bitch is crazy. Plus I got to write out that fight scene based on Laxus' fight with Raven Tail during the Grand Magic Games.**

 **I based the first portion of the fight with Metallum on Splinter's fights with Super Shredder in the TMNT 2012 series, I thought it was a good way to show just how powerful Metallum is compared to Adam, and the scene with him crushing Shatterstorm was based on when Hela destroyed Thor's hammer Mjolnir in Thor: Ragnarok, to display just how strong he is. I also had Sir George fight Metallum just for the hell of it, plus I wanted to establish that without a fusion process like the one that created Tempestatis, even someone as powerful as Metallum can only use the power of one Cosmic Lacrima at a time.**

 **This chapter wasn't edited as heavily as the others, I just added in something called a Time Dilation Zone in order to let there be a reason for Adam mastering his full power as easily as he did. Plus it's a concept that I somewhat recycled from my Dragon Reaper fic from about a year ago.**


	10. The Ultimate Enemy

**(Takes place between during chapters 18-19 of the Ridonculous Underdogs)**

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" _Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the Wind and Lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take both their powers for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallium was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see Metallum fall for his betrayal. Unsatisfied by this, Metallum made a pact with the Cosmic Elemental of fire, Urere, to create a warrior of fiery pure evil simply to torture each reincarnation until it ceased. Until the day comes when Metallum is slain the cycle will continue and if that day never comes, the true spirit of the Hurricane will be lost forever to the memory of time."_

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Adam's eyes snapped open and he looked Alejandro dead in the eye, the two of them standing in a black void "So remind me again, what exactly does Aurora want us to do?"

"It's meant to be a test of our power." Alejandro removed his shirt and tossed it to the side, revealing the very faded scar from his previous battle with Kraang Subprime "Your Hurricane Gauntlets have enhanced your lightning powers far beyond what they were when you had first awakened them, and your Wind Stormer boots do the same for your wind powers. The Second Origin release has done exactly that for me, giving me a set of new abilities as well. We've both undergone some intense training in this Time Dilation Zone that Lady Aurora had provided for us, and now she wishes to test our new limits while she teaches Bridgette some new Cosmic Water abilities before we journey to Dimension 1 and battle Sierra, Vilgax, Diagon and the forces of the Esoterica."

"Fair enough. Let's get to it then." Adam braced himself and removed his own shirt, revealing his numerous small scars "You know to be honest I've been wanting to fight you since you got that Crimson Jaguar power but this is even better, we haven't gone at it since Area 51."

"Indeed, but thanks to you my true self has returned. Now let us begin."

"Good enough for me." at the sound of a rock hitting the ground he charged forward and let a fist fly and slugged Alejandro across the face, followed by a kick to the torso "Now show me what you've got!"

"Very well. **Crimson Jaguar… ROAR!"** Alejandro breathed out a blast of light that shot forward faster than the speed of light.

Adam leapt out of the path of the blast, only for it to circle around him from behind "A homing attack huh?" he prepared to block, resulting in an explosion, and he charged through the smoke with a wind attack prepare " **Cosmic Tempest WING ATTACK!"** he hit Alejandro dead on with a blast of wind from both hands, blowing him back a great distance.

Alejandro quickly stopped himself and wiped the blood from his lip "I should've expected as much, even now your abilities are most impressive."

"You're not too shabby either, that's gonna make this a lot more fun. Or at least it will be once you stop holding out on me."

"So you noticed? Very well then. **Crimson Drive!"** a crimson glow surrounded his body and his muscles bulged slightly "Mind if I make the first move?"

"Oh by all means, go right ahead."

"How kind of you." Alejandro blitzed forward and fired off a fist radiating crimson energy, followed by a second one, revealing a pair of crimson colored claws, sending Adam staggering back a few feet, then followed up with a furious barrage of punches, sending him stumbling backwards.

' _Well he definitely powered up that's for sure.'_

"Look up, your battle is far from over! **Crimson Jaguar TALON!"** Alejandro dropped down on him from above with his leg radiating crimson energy, resulting in an explosion, then followed up with a kick to the front and the back of the head, blowing Adam clean off of his feet as a result.

Adam quickly rebounded just in time to fend off a furious barrage of punches and kicks ' _He's so much faster now.'_

"I must say being able to overpower mi hermano's apprentice like this is quite exhilarating all things considered, or it would be if you were not still holding back! Do not hold out on me in this fight! **Crimson Jaguar CLAW!"** he landed a solid blow to Adam's torso, sending him tumbling backwards and leaving a stigma mark on his chest.

' _He left some kind of mark on me, that attack was definitely different from the other ones he's used so far.'_ Adam suddenly found himself frozen in place "What the hell- I can't move! What are you ripping off Fairy Tail now? You know what don't even bother responding to that. Man this is like Sting's White Dragon's Talon , let me guess it paralyzes your opponent so now you can attack me all you want like I'm some helpless punching bag?"

"So you have noticed, I commend you for your deduction skills but now this ends!" so he charged forward and let a fist fly.

" **Cosmic Lightning… ELECTRIC FIST!"** Adam unleashed a lightning enhanced fist and quickly slugged Alejandro across the face, blowing him backwards "Not a bad technique but it's got the same weakness as Sting's move, it's useless if the stigma can be burned off or in my case fried off. You've definitely gotten a lot stronger but you'll have to do a lot better than that if you wanna beat me. **Cosmic Lightning… ANNIHILATION FIST!"** he unleashed a massive fist made of pure lightning, sending Alejandro crashing into a massive rock plateau behind him, demolishing it.

Alejandro burst up from within the rubble and wiped away some blood "You truly are an impressive specimen, I suppose I will have to come at you at full strength." a crimson light engulfed him.

' _His power just shot up like a rocket, at the very least he's stronger than Vilgax was when he wielded Ascalon before. This just got serious.'_

"Here I come amigo. **Crimson Jaguar Secret Art: CRIMSON NOVA!"** Alejandro charged forward and unleashed a massive blast of crimson colored energy, engulfing the area in a massive explosion.

However, when the smoke cleared, it was revealed that Adam had managed to stop the attack with a single hand, his hair now a shade of electric blue with silver colored stripes running through, his eyes the same shade of blue but with silver colored pupils "I've really gotta give you credit where it's due, I knew you had gotten a lot stronger but I never thought you'd push me to bring this out."

"When… When did you learn to evolve that form to such a degree?"

"Truth be told, just now." Adam dealt Alejandro a sharp kick to the face, sending him flying backwards and crashing to the ground "Man this is awesome, I knew this armor would enhance my abilities but I never thought I would be this powerful."

Alejandro spat out some blood and pulled himself back to his feet "To think that is the best that I could manage right now, I suppose I still have a great ways to go."

"Don't sell yourself short, you should be proud of yourself." Adam powered back down to his normal form "I didn't think you would push me to use my full power the way that you did, I'm really impressed."

"Indeed." that was when Aurora stepped through, with Cody and Bridgette following right behind her "Very impressive you two but I'm afraid we do not have any time to waste, the time of the coming of Diagon draws near."

"And that means that he's gotta try and take down Diagon while we deal with Sierra, Vilgax and whatever other idiots are stupid enough to follow him. It's only been a few days but I can imagine that the Esoterica are getting ready to move on the seal."

"It is the only thing stopping Diagon from entering that dimension, if he is not stopped there then all of reality will fall to him."

"That's not gonna happen." Adam stood tall and proud, with Bridgette, Cody and Alejandro all by his side "We're gonna make sure of it, either we'll come back successful or we won't come back at all."

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Another party was currently at work preparing for the coming battle with the Diagon and the forces of the Esoterica.

Sir George had gathered his forces of Forever Knights to prepare for the assault "Forever Knights hear my words, for our time has come at last! This is why we exist, this is our true purpose! All of the other false purposes of the Forever Knights, such as gathering technology and fighting dragons, these are nothing more than nonsense and corruption our the one true mission of our order. As we dig upon our founding, so shall we do once more. Together we shall slay the Diagon and save the very Earth itself! THIS I SWEAR!" he rose Ascalon high into the air, drawing cheers from the thousands of Forever Knights before him.

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By this point, Adam and the others had arrived in Dimension 1 and were making a beeline towards the battlefield "Okay so here's the plan, since I've seen how this thing works out in canon I'll need you guys to follow my lead okay?"

"Makes sense, so what are we gonna do exactly?" asked Bridgette.

"Actually that was all that I had, frankly I was just gonna make it up as I go. I know how it plays out in the original series but with Sierra on board this time who now how different it's gonna turn out to be."

"What's different is that you're going to die."

Adam looked ahead and found Sierra standing in front of him "And speak of the She Devil, I don't have time to deal with you crazy so get lost."

"All I want is for my beloved to see you fall, then finally your brainwashing will disappear with you and then my beloved Cody will realize that I am his soulmate instead of Gwen that little slut, that he and I are meant to be together! I sacrificed everything for his sake, all for him to return my love!"

"Oh I'm gonna enjoy this-"

"Adam, stop it." Cody's voice was soft and rather guilty sounding "Ben and the others need us right now, don't bother with her."

"...Yeah you're right."

"You guys go, I'll catch up."

"Suit yourself." so Adam grabbed onto Bridgette and Alejandro by the shoulder and the three of them disappeared.

"This is something I have to do alone."

Sierra seemed genuinely confused, like her personality had done a 180 "What do you mean? I don't understand."

"Sierra, this isn't you. I know that in your heart you know that everything that you've been doing is wrong. But I can't return your feelings."

"But Cody my love, I did everything that I did for your sake! I got this power so that I could protect you from those that are manipulating you! This power lets me do things that I had never even dreamt of, and all I want to use them for is to make you happy! With me. I want to give you everything that you want. What's wrong with that?"

"Sierra… What do you want?"

"Does that matter?"

"Yes it does, Adam has changed a lot over the past year or so since he's been with Bridgette but if she had just done everything that he wanted then he'd be the same old Adam, only he'd also be a total dick."

"I can be more like Bridgette if that's what you want, or Gwen!"

"No, it has to be what you want."

"Don't you understand? All I want is you."

"That's not enough."

"But Cody… I love you."

"No Sierra, you don't. You don't understand what love is, you're so obsessed that you've led it cloud your mind and drive you to do all of these terrible things. What you're feeling isn't love, it's an unhealthy obsession."

"...You're right. Maybe I don't know what love is, but now I know what hate is. You'll see me again and then you'll pay, all of you will!" and with that, she disappeared between dimensions and out of Cody's line of sight.

Cody didn't utter a single word, he just took off to join Adam and the others.

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The war between the Forever Knights and the Esoterica had begun, and neither side was winning in the struggle.

Sir George on the other hand was fighting his way into the cave with a small squad of Forever Knights, including the squire Winston, right behind him "Forward to the cavern of the seal, let nothing stand in our way!"

"You need not worry sir, I shall protect you with my dying breath!" Winston promptly drew an energy dagger and charged onwards.

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Adam looked down on the canyon, with Bridgette and Alejandro right by his side and Cody coming up behind them "Looks like we're late for the war."

"I'm guessing you made that up as you went?" Bridgette's tone was slightly sarcastic.

"Well it's not one of those things I really bothered to remember from watching this on TV when I was like 12, but either way having several hundred Forever Knights fighting the same enemy as us does help our odds."

"So what do you propose is the best course of action?" asked Alejandro.

"Not what they're doing." Adam pointed to where Ben, Gwen and Kevin had landed in the middle of the fight and were now being forced to fight off several Forever Knights that had blindly attacked them like a bunch of idiots "Here's my plan, we skip the foot soldiers and head straight for the cave."

"Fair enough."

"So let's go." so he grabbed onto the three of them and they charged towards the cave, being sure to avoid the Forever Knights and the Esoterica as they did.

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Sir George continued to venture his way into the cavern, only to be confronted by a large number of Esoterica soldiers "So be it then, have at thee!" he sliced through one energy blast after another without taking a scratch.

"I'm here Sir George I'm here!" Winston finally showed up with his dagger drawn, only to realize that he was too late "And yet I am clearly not needed."

"Worry not young squire, your chance may yet come. I see greatness in you, the spirit of a true knight. Now come, this way." the two of them charged onwards, with Sir George taking out various Esoterica soldiers left and right until they came to a large opening in the cave "There it is, the seal lies just beyond. This is the day that Diagon will fall." he prepared to go deeper into the cave.

"No one will fall this day George." that was when Conduit Edwards popped out from in between dimensions "No one but you that is!" he fired an energy blast at Sir George from behind.

"Sir look out!" Winston pushed Sir George out of the way but ended up taking the blast himself, blowing him back into the wall of the cave and leaving a scorched stump where his left arm had once been.

"Squire!" Sir George took this chance to deflect another blast from Conduit Edwards and knelt down to check on Winston "Thank goodness, he's still breathing."

"But you soon won't be!" Conduit Edwards fired another energy blast.

However, that was when Adam blitzed onto the scene with Bridgette, Cody and Alejandro, and he deflected the blast with one hand "Looks like we got here just in time. How's the kid, is he alright?"

"He still breathes, but as you can see he is far from alright." Sir George gestured towards the fact that Winston was missing an arm "This young man saved my life, and yet he gave such a great cost."

"It was… an honor… to be your squire… please… protect this world…" and then Winston finally passed out.

"...You were no mere squire Winston, you are a true knight among knights. A true Forever Knight through and through." Sir George raised Ascalon high into the air "And I swear on your sacrifice, it will not be in vain."

"The kid's really got heart." Adam muttered "Is there any chance he can still be a knight after this?"

"I do not know, but if not then the blame is all mine."

"Don't beat yourself up, the kid had his choice and he made it. But enough of that, for now we've gotta get him back to Aurora."

"I'll take him." Cody slung Winston over his shoulder "Adam they need you here and I'm the only one of us aside from that can travel between dimensions without any help. You guys just do what you have to do." and so he disappeared in a golden light.

"Poor kid, he had heart but he had to give it up. Such is the world we live in I guess."

"Such is the way of a knight." Sir George told him "Still though I will never forget the sacrifice he made, my defeat of Diagon shall be in his name."

"Are we forgetting something? Oh yeah, I forgot about him." he blitzed behind Conduit Edwards and dealt him a swift yet powerful punch with so much force behind it he coughed up a massive amount of blood.

"May Diagon… curse you…" and then he died.

"You cost that kid his future as a knight, as far as I'm concerned you got of easy. Come on guys let's go, we've got a dragon to slay."

"You seem more confident now than the last time I saw you." Sir George noted "Am I correct to assume your doubt is no longer there in your heart?"

"Oh it's still there, I'm just learning to love with it. But after the stuff I've been through with you I realized something."

"What would that be Young Master Anderson?"

"All this time I've been afraid of letting myself get consumed by vengeance but a lot has changed over the last few years since last fight with Mal, I've got way more bonds now than I ever did before and those bonds are what give me my strength. As long as I have them watching my back my heart will remain strong for their sake, and even if I do let myself get consumed by vengeance someday and tainted with hatred then at least I know that their light will be enough to strike me down and even then I will do everything in my power to protect them. For that you have my eternal gratitude, noble knight Sir George." Adam got down on one knee in front of him.

"Rise Young Master Anderson, your path to knighthood is nearly complete. Your conviction is far more firm than I have ever seen from you before, if I shall fall to the Diagon then I can think of no other."

"I'm truly honored."

"The honor is all mine. Now come young ones, our future awaits." and so they charged deeper into the cave, all four of them.

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It wasn't long before Sir George had led the party into the deepest part of the cave, with the seal not being very far away "Show yourself Diagon, today is the day that I shall slay you for a second and final time!"

" _ **You? You are nothing."**_ the voice of Diagon echoed throughout the cave " _ **You are less than nothing."**_

"Then come out and face me, face the power of the human race if you fear it as little as you claim to!"

" _ **I need not sully myself with mere specs such as you. I already have complete control over one universe and soon I shall control this one."**_

"Then grow a pair and come out and face us." Adam's Hurricane Gauntlets began crackling with electricity and his Wind Stormers began vibrating "I'm not afraid of some overgrown lizard with a giant heart bigger than my head and not in the good sense of it, now get out here and meet your death by the hand of Cosmic Knight!"

" _ **If it is battle you seek then so be it, face the herald of my arrival."**_ the seal stood in front of them and a glowing golden colored light began to flow through the crack " _ **Once a pitiful creature of this dimension, now he has been reborn in my power, existing for the sole purpose of serving Diagon."**_ and then a figure emerged from within the seal.

"Yep, right on cue. I've been waiting to have a rematch with you… Vilgax."

Sure enough, from within the seal emerged none other than Vilgax, now merged with one of the Lucubra creatures "I… LIVE! I am Vilgax, herald of Diagon! All hail the grandeur of the great and powerful Diagon!"

"Yeah yeah yeah all hail the great and powerful Oz dragon or whatever, you're just another mindless slave of Diagon like all of the other suckers in his Esoterica like Conduit Edwards used to be before I killed him."

"I am Vilgax, and I am the slave to no creature! I have witnessed the power of Diagon first hand and now I as a result I have been reborn! I worship the great Diagon as all creatures who live shall soon do!"

"We'll see about that. Sir George save your strength for fighting Diagon, Bridgette and Alejandro you head out and try to dwindle down the numbers of the Esoterica."

"Right, just be careful." and so Bridgette and Alejandro took off.

"As for yours truly, I'll take on Vilgax myself."

"Your bravery is commendable child, you have earned your demise by my hand." Vilgax fired a blast of purple energy.

Adam dodged it simply by cranking his neck to the side and got into a fighting stance "So you ready to rumble?"

"The almighty Diagon might show you mercy, but Vilgax has none to give!" Vilgax fired a pair of energy beams from his eyes.

Adam stopped the attack with one hand "I think you'll find that I'm a lot stronger now than I was the last time we went at it."

"Perhaps you are boy, but so am I!" Vilgax charged at Adam at full speed and brought down one of his claws, causing part of the cave roof to collapse, opening it up to the rest of the warzone of a battlefield, allowing the two of them to take their rematch to the night skies.

Adam found himself easily dodging every attack, until one energy blast landed on him and sent him flying across the battlefield and embedded him in the side of the canyon.

"Such is the fate of all who would dare to defy Diagon." Vilgax fired another energy blast, and when the explosion subsided it revealed that Adam was gone "And that is the fate of all who would dare to defy Vilgax."

" **Fasttrack!"** that was when Ben 10 finally showed up at the important fight and tried to get the jump on Vilgax and managed to drop kick him "And that be how we do things when the clock strikes Hero Time! I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see you Vilgax, you can't keep a bad man down now can you?"

"Ben Tennyson… You have been my greatest adversary, I suppose it is only fitting that you be present at my moment of ultimate triumph. Follow me if you dare." and then he disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Well that sucks."

"Tell me about it." Adam blitzed over to him "I was gonna get the jump on him but then you drop kicked him, and where the hell were you anyway?"

"With Gwen and Kevin fighting Forever Knights and Esoterica."

"Wasting time on the foot soldiers, got it."

"...Well what do you know, looks like somebody got his mojo back."

"I got advice from a wise knight on how to go beyond being a hero. Come on let's go, we've gotta take Vilgax down before it's too late." and so he grabbed onto Ben by the shoulder and they teleported away.

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Sir George continued his charged back into the cave, now on his own and he looked back to see Adam and Ben appear "So glad you could join us Young Masters. Come, the monster lies within."

"More like Squid Face lies ahead." Adam pointed to where Vilgax was standing in front of the seal at the end of the cave.

"So be it then, Vilgax have at thee!"

"To resist now is futile." Vilgax turned to face them "You're too late old man, boy and Ben Tennyson, the battle has already come to an end." this was followed by the cave collapsing around them, revealing the dimension of Diagon all around them.

"Oh fu-"

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Bridgette and Alejandro raced out of the cave and found Gwen and Kevin blasting away at a large number of Esoterica "You guys need some help?"

"Cover my back!" Kevin kept on firing at the Esoterica with a Plumber's blaster, with Gwen firing blasts of mana.

"That I can do! **Water Cyclone!"** Bridgette unleashed a water tornado and took down a large number of Esoterica.

" **Crimson Jaguar Roar!"** Alejandro breathed out a crimson colored energy blast, annihilating several Esoterica with the sheer power of the blast, just as the entire canyon started shaking from what felt like a tremor.

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Vilgax let out a maniacal triumphant cackle "At last, the era of Diagon has begun!"

"And it ends with me snapping your neck." Adam promptly powered up, wind and lightning gathering around his body "At least that's what I say, and I'm sure Ben 10 over here agrees with me."

"Is that so? Well what either of you say is no longer of any true significance, your fates have been sealed." he fired off a barrage of energy blasts.

"Not a chance! **Heatblast!"** Ben quickly changed into Heatblast and unleashed a stream of fire as he burst forward at full speed.

Vilgax dodged by moving between dimensions with ease "The ruination of this universe is at last at hand, the Diagon will come!"

"And so will this! **Cosmic Lightning… THUNDER FIST!"** Adam dealt Vilgax a lightning enhanced fist, wounding him heavily just as as Bridgette and the others arrived to back them up.

Sir George rose his sword "Come no further Diagon, if you do break the seal then you will taste the metal of my sword!"

"And the voltage of my lightning!"

"Do not address the Diagon, direct your mesley threats to me!" Vilgax fired a large purple energy blast, sending Sir George skidding backwards.

" **Cosmic Lightning… THUNDEROUS HALBERD!"** Adam unleashed a very large trident made of pure lightning and hurtled it forward, with Heatblast unleashing a blast of fire in conjunction with it, engulfing Vilgax in a massive explosion.

"I thought Vilgax was dead." Kevin muttered.

"Which time, the last time you fought him or the dozen or so times you fought him before and either kicked his ass or got your ass handed to you?"

"...I like you."

"A lot of people do."

"But not me." Vilgax emerged from the flames with burn marks all over his body "My master is growing ever closer to this dimension, the moment is at last at hand!" this was followed by a psychic wave being unleashed from within the seal, forcing Gwen to put up a Mana shield to protect everyone.

"Oh crap."

"What's going on?" asked Heatblast.

"It's Diagon, he's using his power to turn every single human being in the world into one of his Esoterica followers."

"But that's insane!"

"Doesn't mean it's not true."

"It is." Vilgax let out a malicious grin of triumph "The master has prevailed and now all living beings on Earth serve him!"

"Told ya."

Gwen was quick to check it out with her Mana powers "It's true Ben, there are billions of lives across the Earth that I can't sense anymore."

"Every human on Earth except for us, Julie and most of the Forever Knights has been turned into an Esoterica."

"Indeed they have, behold the true power of the Diagon!" Vilgax held up his hands in worship of the Diagon.

"And now the seal is starting to look wobbly."

"And now you shall at last meet your demise!" Vilgax fired a large blast of energy.

"Everyone get back!" believe it or not Bridgette was the one who stepped forward and formed a Water Dome to support Gwen's Mana shield, only for the force of the blast to overwhelm them and fry both of them, though Bridgette got the worst of it and was knocked out cold.

"Bridgette!" Adam quickly caught her in his arms before she hit the ground "She's alright, just unconscious. Alejandro take the offensive with Ben, I'll get Bridgette somewhere safe."

"Understood. **White Dragon's Roar!"** Alejandro hit Vilgax dead on with his White Dragon's Roar.

Heatblast took this chance to melt the ground beneath Vilgax's feet in order to prevent him from getting away "I don't care how strong you might be, you don't have any sort of leverage in there."

"And now for the finisher." Adam prepared to finish off Vilgax with a blast of lightning at point blank range, only for Ben to stop him "What the hell?"

"We don't kill guys like Vilgax, that's not what heroes do even if they deserve it. That's what makes us heroes."

"Yeah well that's the difference between us Tennyson, I'm not a hero. I'm a knight."

"What does that matter? There's still a line not to cross, I know that nobody wants you to cross that line." he gestured to everyone around them "You said that you don't want your vengeance to consume you so don't let it, remember the people in your life that you swore to protect and keep your heart strong if only for their sake.

"...Yeah, yeah you're right. Sorry." he retracted his blast of lightning "This is what I was afraid of, I slip into those habits way too easily."

"Just don't forget what's important to you and you'll do just fine." this was followed by another tremor as the seal began cracking even further "Gwen."

"I'm on it, a spell to hold off the Diagon." and so Gwen rushed off to prepare the spell.

Vilgax took this chance to try and get his hands on even more power "Hear me my master, grant your humble and obedient servant even more power! The Earth must be prepared for your arrival and conquest!"

" _ **Granted, show the Earth the power of Diagon."**_ a blue light suddenly engulfed Vilgax, causing him to bulk up slightly.

"Yes, yes I can feel it!"

"This is bad." Adam muttered "His power is shooting up like a rocket, I might have to transform in order to beat him."

"YES!" with a burst of blue energy, Vilgax burst upwards from the ground and broke free, his body crackling with electricity "I can feel the power coursing through me!" he started firing off random energy blasts at the three of them.

' _Crap._ Guys I've got an idea, I'll need you to buy me some time."

"Gotcha. **Eatle!"** Ben transformed into Eatle and charged forward, with Sir George following right behind with Ascalon pointed forward.

Vilgax merely backhanded Eatle away and blocked a number of attacks from Ascalon "Is that the best that you can do?"

"Have at thee monster!" Sir George charged at Vilgax and erected a force field with an energy beam, trapping him inside.

Vilgax grabbed Sir George by the energy blade and swung him around, slamming him into the wall of the cave "So who wants to die first?"

"How about you! **Crimson Jaguar Secret Art: CRIMSON NOVA!"** Alejandro unleashed his Holy Nova blast and hit Vilgax dead on, sending him flying through the portal and crashing into a large tower.

" _ **What has happened out there? Speak servant."**_

"Your servant speaks no more Diagon, he has been vanquished."

"Is that so?" Vilgax rose up from beneath the rubble and picked up a massive tower standing over the rest of the area "You are gravely mistaken boy, I speak for my master and that makes me more powerful than ever before!" he threw the tower at them.

"Guys look out!" Eatle was able to cover both Sir George and Alejandro just before they got crushed underneath the tower.

"At last, those pests are out of the way."

" _ **Excellent now free me."**_

"Consider it done my master." Vilgax started breaking apart the seal, only to notice that Adam was still standing "Still coming back for more are you?"

Adam looked up and shot him a smirk "Well I've never been one to give up very easily or at all for that matter. Now then, not really sorry but you're gonna have to die. This is one of my most powerful attacks Vilgax, and you're about to eat all of that shit! **Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: ROARING THUNDER!"** he unleashed a massive blast of lightning, engulfing Vilgax and the seal and everything else in a massive explosion.

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At the same time, Gwen and Kevin had taken the Rustbucket 3 back to Bellwood to get one of her spellbooks, only to be attacked by hundreds of Esoterica soldiers, and they were barely able to hold them off long enough to enter Gwen's house and for Gwen to put up a large dome of Mana energy in order to keep the Esoterica at bay and buy them some time.

Unfortunately they didn't have any luck finding a containment spell strong enough to cast across dimensions, forcing them to improvise while fighting the Esoterica, which ended up taking a turn for the worst when Gwen was once again taken over by Diagon.

As it turns out, thanks to previously being controlled by a Lucubra, Diagon had now established a mental connection with her, and now she was being forced to race towards him, with Kevin following her in a car that he had stolen.

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By this point, Adam had been forced to one knee panting heavily "Dammit…"

"Adam?" that was when Bridgette came to "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine, that attack just takes up a lot of energy is all."

" _ **Your power, it is strong child. Perhaps stronger than even mine."**_

"I'm flattered." his tone was oozing sarcasm.

" _ **Your power is far beyond that of my useless servant, the power that I had granted him was more than enough and yet he still fails me."**_

"Hey you made the choice to make Vilgax your herald even after he tried to steal your heart for himself, chances are this is gonna backfire even more later on."

"BE SILENT BOY!" a pissed off but heavily burned and badly wounded Vilgax burst up from the rubble again "I will not let you stop me from freeing my master, it is my duty as a vessel."

"Vessel? I thought you were a herald."

"He is merely a pawn of the dragon." Sir George rose up from within the rubble, with Alejandro and Ben right behind him.

"Are you guys alright?"

"We shall live, and whether this world survives or not Vilgax shall not."

"Took the words right out of my mouth

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Vilgax started firing random energy blasts in a blind rage.

"You guys take over for a minute, I need to recover my strength after the Roaring Thunder okay?"

"Just rest, you'll need it. **Water Slicer!"** Bridgette fired off a barrage of water blades at high speeds towards Vilgax, hitting him dead on and leaving various shallow cuts "It's at least five on one Vilgax, you're outmatch and outnumbered."

"That's where you're wrong girl." Vilgax snarled "The number of Esoterica on this planet is nearly infinite, nearly every other being on this planet serves the Diagon just as I do."

"Oh yeah sure you are." Eatle let out a loud snort "If you're really the Vilgax I know then you're not serving anyone but yourself."

"I've had enough of your lies Tennyson!" Vilgax fired another energy blast at Eatle, sending him flying into one of the other towers "I'm going to make you eat those words!"

"What of it, he has already eaten everything else." Sir George pointed out, earning looks from everyone present "Jocularity in the face of danger, I find that it helps to increase one's moral significantly."

"And now you may perish with your head held high!" Vilgax furiously fired off a barrage of energy blasts.

"Stay back young ones, let me show you what the first knight is capable of!" with his sword raised Sir George charged forward " **Wind Scar!"** he fired off a large blast of wind, quickly engulfing Vilgax in an explosion "I may have taken one or two pages from the book known as anime, that Inuyasha story for instance quickly caught my attention."

"And so will this!" Vilgax fired off one massive blast of energy at the group with a sadistic grin on his face.

" **Humungousaur!"** Ben transformed into Humungousaur to protect everyone from the blast, only for them to be forced on the defensive by Vilgax continuously bombing them with energy blasts.

"I have to give you credit, I'm finally starting to enjoy myself."

"And so am I! **Cosmic Lightning… ROAR!"** Adam unleashed a powerful blast of lightning from his mouth, sending Vilgax hurting back across the cave just as Kevin came speeding into the cave in the same stolen car "Oh crap I forgot about that part."

"What part is that exactly?"

"The part where Gwen got brain f*cked by Diagon and now he plans to use her anodite powers to break the seal since Vilgax has done such a crappy job of it up to this point."

" _ **The boy speaks the truth. My so called herald has repeatedly failed to use the power that I have given him to break the seal."**_

"Did I call it? Yeah I totally called it."

" _ **Fortunately, one of the most powerful beings in your world is at my command. Destroy the seal, my Anodite."**_

"Yes my master, such as task is easy enough." still under the control of Diagon, Gwen transformed into her Anodite form and swatted Humungousaur aside like a fly "The seal shall soon break, the great one shall make his return and the Diagon shall rule!"

"Take it easy Gwen, I don't want to hurt you." Humungousaur was met with a sinister chuckle in the voice of the Diagon "Well that's disturbing."

" **You, hurt me?"** Gwen brought Humungousaur to his knees with just a wave of her hand, causing him to revert back into Ben, then went onto breaking the seal.

" **Water Slicer!"** a barrage of water blades hit Gwen and sent her skidding backwards, courtesy of Bridgette "You know I hate fighting in pretty much every sense of it but Adam is way too chivalrous to hit a lady, but that doesn't mean that I can't protect him the way that he protects everyone else. Come on girlfriend, I'm your opponent now!" she charged in and unleashed a barrage of water bullets.

Gwen cranked her neck to the side to dodge them and dealt Bridgette a swift two punches and one kick to the gut, sending her skidding backwards " **You cannot break the control that I hold over this vessel."**

"We'll see about that. **Water Whip!"** Bridgette extended whips made of pure water energy from her hands and started lashing them around.

Gwen overpowered the water whips with a quick blast of Mana, sending Bridgette stumbling backwards, only to notice a strange energy radiating from her " **This power, could it be? You hold within you the power of a single Cosmic Lacrima."**

"So you noticed. I guess that means I don't have to hold this back anymore." with a surprising roar, Bridgette was suddenly engulfed in a blue light.

Adam was taken aback by this transformation "Wow, just… damn."

When the light dissipated, it revealed Bridgette, her body now surrounded by a blue aura with her eyes a deep ocean blue "You like it? This is my own Cosmic Force transformation, I mean it's not completed like Adam's is but it'll get the job done. Plus it lets me do this. **Cosmic Water ROAR!"** she unleashed a blast of water from her mouth, sending Gwen flying backwards and crashing into another tower in Diagon's dimension, causing Bridgette to fall to one knee as the transformation quickly subsided "Okay… that may not… have been… the best idea."

"Yeah well it bailed our asses out of the fire for a minute." Adam helped her back to her feet "So when did you learn you could do that?"

"Just now."

"...You just took a page from my book of anime references, I don't think I've ever been so turned on and so proud at the same time." this was followed by yet another tremor coming from the seal.

" _ **Soon, very soon all of you shall face my wrath."**_

"Yeah whatever lets you sleep at night big guy." and cue another tremor "Yeah okay I feel like I'm to blame for that one."

"You kind of are." Ben told him dryly, now sporting an iron helmet.

"Where'd you get the head gear?"

"From Kevin before he went off to play prince charming with my cousin, which is why I'm gonna use Swampfire on his ass later."

"...I really do like you man."

"Your efforts are wasted." Vilgax told them "When the Diagon comes to this world, you shall be the first to die by his hand."

"Then you're gonna tell us how to stop that from happening and change all of the Esoterica back to human or we're gonna beat the answers out of you."

"Your taunts do not intimidate me, Master Diagon I need more power to crush those who would dare to stand against you!" but nothing happened "Master? Hello?"

"Looks like your 30 day trial with Diagon has expired." Adam received a number of looks from everyone present "Oh come on that one was a gimme!"

Ben nodded "Crappy pun aside you're totally on your own now."

"Not entirely actually, you know how I said I saw this before on TV?"

"Yeah?" this was followed by the sound of a ship landing.

"I know who's landing outside right now."

"So then you know what I plan to do." Vilgax blitzed over to the ship before any of them could stop him "You took your time to do what I asked you to do… Psyphon."

Sure enough, Psyphon stepped out of the ship and got down on one knee in front of Vilgax "My humble apologies master, gathering everything that you had required took much longer than I had anticipated. I-"

"I don't have time to listen to you prattling now where is it?"

"My apologies, I have it right here. Shall I-"

"No, not yet."

"Yeah he's right space dwarf, I've gotta kick his ass first." Adam got into a stance "Guys, prepare to start playing the main theme for Fairy Tail! I'm gonna transform and take Squid Lips down." he was about to do just that when there was another tremor, and he looked back to see a golden light engulfing the seal "Oh crap."

" _ **At long last, the time is at hand."**_

"Yep we're f*cked."

"Indeed dragon, now it begins!" Sir George raised his sword.

"So tell me Sir George, did he…?"

"Indeed he did Young Master Anderson, tis the moment the Forever Knights have been preparing for for over one thousand years. The dragon has at last freed himself." this was followed by the seal crumbling into pieces and scattering away into the wind "So then where…"

"Take a look outside, this is why it pays to be a comic book nerd."

"Guys!" that was when Cody suddenly bolted into the cave "Man you guys are not gonna believe this, I got that kid over to Aurora and got back just in time to see the Diagon outside hovering over the battlefield and I nearly peed myself!"

"...Didn't need to know that Codemeister, where the hell is it?"

" _ **Where am I, you ask?"**_ a sinister chuckle ran through the air.

"And just like that." Adam and the others all rushed out of the cave back into the canyon "Yeah we're f*cked."

Sure enough, the massive form of the Diagon was looking down on all of them with its massive and intimidating gaze " **I… am… EVERYWHERE!"**

"And just like that I'm in the same position as Cody."

" **At last, I am free. I am the Diagon. Behold my power, and tremble before it as your insignificant lives come to an end."**

"Have at thee Dragon! **Backlash Wave!"** Sir George promptly fired off a Backlash Wave from the blade of Ascalon "What was it you would say Young Master Anderson, that's going to leave a mark?"

" **Insignificant spec! You dare strike the Diagon? Vilgax, make amends for your previous failure and dispose of these specs."** Diagon looked over, only to find that Vilgax was nowhere to be seen " **Vilgax, show yourself to your master."**

"Your herald as always is the first to arrive at the conclusion Diagon, you have already lost and he has abandoned you!"

" **Fool, my resources are not limited to merely Vilgax. Every living being on this planet is at my command."** and to prove this point, Diagon summoned 10 or so Esoterica, which promptly charged at the group in order to obey their master's command.

"Alright guys, you know what we've gotta do. Protect George." Ben prepared to slam down on the Ultimatrix.

"And what are you gonna do?" asked Adam.

"Something big."

"Good enough for me. **Cosmic Tempest ROAR!"** Adam unleashed a powerful blast of wind from his mouth and hit the Esoterica simultaneously, causing them to retreat between dimensions, only for several more Esoterica to appear in their place.

Ben took this opportunity to transform " **WAY BIG!** Hey Diagon, what do you say you try and pick on someone your own size? I-"

" _ **You are a slightly larger spec than the rest of the specs infesting this world, but despite that you are still beneath my notice."**_

"You didn't let me finish my sentence." Way Big pressed the symbol on his chest, causing him to evolve into his ultimate form " **ULTIMATE WAY BIG!"** he charged at Diagon and hit him square in the nose.

" _ **Impossible!"**_

"We're just getting started! NOW!"

"You heard him guys, hit him with your strongest attacks!"" Adam quickly flashed into his Cosmic Force form " **Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: ROARING THUNDER!"** he unleashed a powerful blast of lightning in one hand " **Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: Shattered Light: SKY DRILL!"** he unleashed a powerful blast of wind in the other hand, both blasts combining into one and slamming into Diagon "Come on guys I can't do this alone!"

"You don't have to Adam, I'm with you all the way! **HERO'S LIGHT!"** Cody unleashed his blast of Hero's Light, combining with Adam's wind and lightning attacks.

" **Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: Crimson Nova!"** Alejandro unleashed a blast of Holy Nova, hitting the Diagon dead on.

" **Cosmic Water Cryo Bow!"** Bridgette powered up to her semi Cosmic Force form and unleashed a large purple bow made of pure ice and hit Diagon, dead on.

"PUSH IT FURTHER!" Adam packed more power into his blast, the combined force of all four attacks along with Ultimate Waybig's attack blowing Diagon clear out of the skies and sending him crashing into a nearby damn, destroying it and flooding the entire canyon.

Diagon suddenly blitzed back in front of them, covered in clear wounds and burns all over with several of his tentacles missing " _ **Insignificant specs, you dare to strike the mighty Diagon and expect to live to tell the tale?"**_ he regenerated his wounds and tentacles within seconds " _ **I cannot be destroyed. You, on the other hand…"**_ he grabbed Ultimate Way Big using one of his tentacles and held him in place as he struck him with his Eye Beams, causing Ultimate Way Big to cry out in pain.

" **Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: DIVINE THUNDERCLAP!"** using the last of his strength that he could summon, Adam rose a hand up to the sky and a bolt of lightning struck him, yet he was able to control it, and guided it down so that it would strike Diagon, engulfing him in a massive explosion, cutting off several of his tentacles and forcing him to let go of Ultimate Way Big, leaving him to fall to the ground.

When the smoke cleared, Diagon was clearly injured, but he was able to regenerate within a matter of seconds " _ **Still you continue to fight on boy. Tell me, is this sublime bravery or are you simply so unintelligent that you cannot even realize how hopeless your struggle truly is?"**_

Adam had now been forced back into his normal form, but that didn't cause his spirits to waver even the slightest bit "It doesn't really make that much of a difference now does it? Either way I'm gonna protect my friends and you're gonna get your ass kicked, depending on whether or not you actually have an ass in that pile of noodles and ugly that you call a face. God dammit now I want ramen. You know what screw it, just call it a metaphor. **Cosmic Lightning… ANNIHILATION FIST BARRAGE!"** he fired off a reasonably large fist made up of pure lightning, followed by several more follow up attacks, string the Diagon head on but not damaging him in the slightest "Yeah that's right, you have enough yet?"

" _ **I most assuredly have."**_ again with the nearly omnipotent powers, Diagon summoned a massive cloud of literal acid rain and lightning.

"Oh that's just bullshit!" Adam raised both of his hands and absorbed a blast of lightning from within the clouds that Diagon had summoned, and he channels that energy into hitting Diagon with another blast of Roaring Thunder "You know I've gotta give you props Almighty Serpent Squid, that little pick me up was just what I needed to get back to 100%. Who would've thought that I could absorb wind and lightning just like a Dragon Slayer straight out of Fairy Tail."

" _ **Such is the nature of one who wields the power of a Cosmic Elemental."**_ Diagon suddenly disappeared from view.

"Oh crap."

"Hold it!" Ultimate Way Big finally pulled himself back to his feet "Come back here… and fight me!"

" _ **Do you truly believe that I would dare to run?"**_ Diagon materialized in front of them, now in his basic squid like form " _ **Why would I bother to leave and miss your demise before my conquest begins at last?"**_ this was followed by the acid rain finally getting to Ultimate Way Big, causing him to collapse forward and revert back to Ben " _ **And thus this world's greatest hope has fallen."**_

"Not by a long shot ugly! **Cosmic Hurricane ROAR!"** Adam breathed out a massive blast of both wind and lightning, striking Diagon but not hurting him.

" _ **Your antics cease to be amusing."**_ Diagon quickly caught Adam with his Eye Beams, reverting him back to his base form and sending him flying " _ **Such is the fate of all who would ever dare to defy the great Diagon."**_

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Cody and the others continued fighting off the Esoterica, only for them to see Diagon looming over head "Whatever Adam and Ben did it didn't take, we've still got a giant angry space squid looming overhead."

"I don't see either of them." Bridgette muttered "You don't think Diagon…"

"Don't jump to conclusions, we know better than anyone that Adam would never go down as easily as that."

"Their admirable and honorable efforts were able to earn us this respite, I will not allow their efforts to go to waste! Hear me Diagon, taste the metal of my sword!" Sir George took this chance to charge at Diagon at full speed.

" _ **You grow exponentially tiresome knight, and now this game draws to a close."**_ Diagon fired a barrage of Eye Beams down at him.

Sir George deflected every blast with Ascalon and continued his charge without stopping or slowing down for even a second just as Ultimate Wildmutt charged back onto the battlefield and began literally tearing apart one Esoterica after another.

Adam quickly blitzed onto the scene "You guys better conserve your strength, call it gut instinct but I have a feeling we're gonna need it before the night is over."

Alejandro was the first one to catch onto what he meant "You're still worried about Vilgax and his henchman are you not?"

"I think it's a bad idea to ignore the giant octopus raining down Dragon Ball style energy beams from above us and leave that to a knight with a magic tech sword but if there's one thing that I've learned from binging on cartoons for years it's that when Vilgax is involved you can never take your eyes off of him even for a second."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Vilgax is up to something, but saving the world from the Diagon should come first, at least for now."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The fated rematch between the Saint and the Dragon continued to rage on.

Diagon ceased with his relentless eye beams and looked down on Sir George with eyes filled with clear disdain " _ **No threats, no clever and advanced words. Tell me George the Triumphant, are you tiring?"**_

Sure enough, Sir George was covered in slight wounds, panting heavily "My body may be slowing but my spirit and my conviction will never waver! Not until I see you dead and this world safe from your influence!"

" _ **Then you shall die with those dreams in mind."**_ Diagon fired off another barrage of Eye Beams.

" **Chromastone!"** that was when Chromastone blitzed in front of Sir George and absorbed the energy of the attack "Hey give him a break would you? The guy is over 2,000 years old and he's been fighting fire lightning ninjas all day, how could he not be tired? Frankly I think the old guy deserves at least some credit doesn't he?" he fired an energy blast at Diagon and cast a quick glance back at Sir George "Hey listen, if you've got any juice left in the magic sword then now would be the perfect time to use it!"

"Wise words, there may just be hope for you yet Young Master Tennyson. **BACKLASH WAVE!"** Sir George brought down Ascalon and fired off a Backlash Wave just as Chromastone stopped firing energy blasts.

"That's it, I'm tapped out of energy."

"Maybe not, how much power can you absorb in that form?" asked Gwen.

"A lot, wait what are you doing? Is this gonna hurt?"

"Just be quiet and let me improvise! **Magnus Vox!"** Gwen used one of her spells in order to charge up Chromastone with her power.

"...Yeah okay works for me." and so Chromastone went back to firing a barrage of energy blasts at Diagon alongside Sir George firing energy blasts from Ascalon, only for the former to soon be swatted aside like a fly by Diagon.

" _ **That is enough! This shall not continue!"**_ now beginning to lose his cool, Diagon summoned another group of dark clouds that began looming overhead.

Sir George stood in place unafraid "And pray tell Dragon what sorcery is this? Clouds cannot protect you from the spirit of a true knight!"

" _ **Do not fear the clouds George, fear the lightning!"**_ Diagon's eyes began glowing red.

"Is that so?"

"No you stay back, let me deal with this." Adam prepared to take the blast of lightning full force himself.

"No, it is not your place to Young Master Anderson."

"You've seen what happens thanks to Aurora, if you don't let me take this attack for you then you will die."

"It is fine, I am content with my fate. As a knight, we must be prepared to die in the defence of those we hold dear, which I believe you always have been Young Master… I mean, Adam. When I first met you held so little faith in yourself, and I saw that you had to force your conviction not to waver. But when I gazed upon you and saw you valiantly fight back against Vilgax when he wielded my sword Ascalon I saw you for what you truly held within you, the spirit of a dragon and a heart as strong as a lion and twice as big. As I watched you fight and persevere it was not your overwhelming power that impressed me, what you showed me over the past several days was something far more valuable than that. Creativity, versatility, intelligence, the spirit of protection, an unwavering soul that resolves itself over and over again. These are the traits that define not a great hero like Young Master Tennyson, but a great knight who protects his king to his dying breath, and these are the traits that define you. You once claimed that you did not believe yourself to be worthy, however I believe you are more worthy than any man that I have ever met before. More worthy than even me. When I looked at you, it was as if I saw the spirit of my past self, and now it makes me regret the mistakes that I had made even more, and yet it also made me feel a strong sense of true joy and happiness, something that I had not felt in a very long time. When I had lived my first lifetime before I had been made aware of my curse of immortality, I had always hoped that I would be able to one day inspire people, perhaps even become a legend in myself. That indescribable feeling of exhilaration and anxiety, seeing you brought back that feeling for me and for that I give you my thanks. Adam, a difficult path lies ahead for you to forge down, but never let your resolve waver and let your conviction stay strong and true. Let your heart stay true until your last breath. Remember these words Adam if none others, become a knight the likes of which the 10 dimensions themselves have never seen. Your resolve, your conviction, your iron will, never let them fade or waver for even a moment." he rose Ascalon high into the air "Come Diagon, strike me down now if you fear me as little as you claim!"

" _ **Fear means nothing when faced with a mere spec. Now… DIE!"**_ Diagon rained down a massive bolt of crimson colored lightning.

Sir George tried to stop the attack with Ascalon, but when the lightning had subsided he had lost both his armor and his youth, having been reverted back to his old man form, and he gave Adam a small sad smile "With these… final words… I bid you farewell… Sir Cosmic Knight." and with that, his body crumbled into ash and scattered into the wind, leaving only the sword behind where he once stood.

Adam hung his head, his hair covering his eyes as his fists both clenched so tightly that his hands began bleeding "I will, I give you my word. I always keep my word, and I will always protect my friends." his head snapped upwards, his eyes radiating with pure resolve "That's who I am and I'm not gonna let go of that!"

"Yeah yeah enough with the heroic speech for now already." Chromastone turned back into Ben and pulled himself back to his feet "It was working pretty well there for awhile, until Gwen's Mana ran out."

"Ben… Sir George, he didn't make it."

"Then that means that it's up to the seven of us."

"More like you guys are gonna watch the main act." Adam pressed his hand against the blade of Ascalon, the electricity stored within the blade being used to recharge himself, and his body began crackling with crimson electricity "Oh yeah that's the stuff. Anyway, if my memory serves me correctly, then that means that some major shit is gonna go down in the next few minutes or so."

"Shit of what variety exactly?"

"The universe destroying kind."

Diagon looked down on them as Sir George's remains finished scattering to the wind " _ **Such is the fate of all who would ever dare to defy the will of Diagon."**_

"And yet despite that little display I'm still skeptical." that was when Vilgax finally showed himself again "My so called Master."

" _ **Tell me Vilgax, do you presume yourself even remotely capable of betraying me? The one who granted you the power that you now possess?"**_

"As a matter of fact, I do."

" _ **I have won a great victory here today, and at the moment I am currently overflowing with generosity. Beg me for forgiveness, debase yourself before my magnificence and unimaginable power and I just may grant you a demise that is quick and free of agony."**_

"Tell me something Diagon, did you really think that I was going to just stand by and let you conquer my universe? That right belongs to me and me alone, after I destroy you I'm going to rule yours along with this one."

" _ **You truly are a fool, I am going to destroy your precious weapon and then condemn you to an eternity of pain and agony the likes of which you have never felt before."**_

"Then go ahead and strike me down."

" _ **Very well, if you wish to die then I shall oblige you!"**_ Diagon started firing his Eye Beams at the machine, only for it to start absorbing the energy.

"Arrogant fool, even I wouldn't let down my guard like that."

" _ **What… What is this? I cannot stop!"**_

"Of course you can't. That machine isn't a weapon, it's a faux maniculous."

Psyphon nodded "Under any sort of normal circumstances this machine is simply meant to absorb power and draw it into itself."

" _ **But my substance IS power!"**_

"Exactly, not the most fortunate truth for you at the moment."

" _ **You… You WRETCHED FOOL! I swear by the might and glory of Diagon, you will pay for this treachery!"**_ and with that, Diagon was sucked into the machine.

"It is you who is the fool for believing that my master Vilgax would ever stoop so low as to be a slave to anyone."

"You know what to do Psyphon." Vilgax left himself wide open "Do it."

"Of course master." Psyphon prepared to hit Vilgax with the power drainer.

"You do realize what's gonna happen right?" Adam pointed out "I mean with the Diagon's power added onto his own that's gonna make Vilgax unstoppable."

"Yes, I am aware. After all that is the purpose of my being here."

"And you realize that if he has the powers of a god or a demon or whatever the hell Diagon is then he'll no longer have any use for you."

"If that is my fate then so be it, I have dedicated my life to the servitude of my master and if I must die so that he reaches the level of power that he deserves then that was my intended destiny."

"And you're fine with that?"

"I am."

"...Just checking, now fire that sucker up. I want the chance to take Vilgax down when he's at his best."

"We shall see about that soon enough." and so Psyphon activated the machine, bathing Vilgax in a crimson light and causing his form to shoot up into the clouds looming overhead.

"Oh yeah, this is gonna be good."

"No!" Ben, Gwen and Kevin looked on in horror.

" **The Esoterica once worshipped me because I looked like the Diagon."** from within the clouds emerged none other than Vilgax, having now taken the form that Diagon had once possessed " **Now I AM the Diagon! At long last Ben Tennyson, the universe is once more within my grasp! You will never thwart me again."** and to add emphasis to the claim, he fired a pair of Eye Beams at the Ben 10 team.

" **Eo Recedentia!"** Gwen grabbed onto both Ben and Kevin and surrounded the three of them in a Mana dome just before the beams hit them, and when the blast subsided the three of them were gone, in their place being a large crater.

" **Yes, YES! This power, it's greater than I could ever have dreamt of! With this power at my command, no one shall stand in my way!"**

"That's where you're wrong." Adam stepped up to face him as his body began crackling with electricity, with Bridgette, Cody and Alejandro standing by his side "You of all people should know better than anyone that Ben 10 would never go down as easily as that, but you should also know by now that if you wanna get to Ben then you've gotta go through the four of us."

" **Is that so?"** at the declaration of this new challenge, Vilgax returned to his original Lucubra merged form, only now with blood red eyes instead of purple ones, and now his body was surrounded by a fiery glow "This flesh, this power, it is something that I have long for for so long! The time has come for me to at last begin the task of restoring my empire by destroying all of my enemies, starting with all of you! I will say that you've done an admirable job of surviving up to this point, but now you have ceased to be amusing." his raw aura alone was shaking the entire canyon.

"Oh man this guy's got some serious power backing him up, I should feel scared but the prospect is kind of exciting."

"Only you would say that." Alejandro noted dryly.

"But that doesn't mean it's not true."

"Now who shall die first?" Vilgax looked around rather mockingly "I think… the girl! **Dark Capriccio!"** he fired a large energy blast in Bridgette's direction.

Alejandro was to blitz in front of Bridgette and try to hold off the attack "You would dare to harm a senorita? You truly are nothing but a despicable coward!"

"Nonsense and pointless chivalrous ideals! Spare me your false beliefs boy!" Vilgax was quick to overpower Alejandro, sending him tumbling backwards "I take great pleasure in destroying all of those who would dare to defy me, why should some worthless human girl be an exception to that rule!"

"Because you just tried to fry my girlfriend! **Cosmic Lightning THUNDER FIST!"** Adam burst upwards from behind Vilgax and launched forward a fist made of lightning "Now go ahead and fry yourself squid lips!"

"I think not boy." Vilgax touched Adam's chest with a mere finger, the force of which sent him hurtling backwards and crashing into Alejandro.

Bridgette on the other hand found herself frozen in place ' _I… I don't know what to do… I'm so terrified of this guy it's like… like he petrified me with just a glance.'_

"Bridgette." Cody quickly snapped her out of her stupor "I know how scared you are right now and I know because I am too, but Adam never gave up on us and he never gave up in general so neither can we. He's protected us, now it's our turn to protect him. **HERO'S LIGHT!"** and so to prove his point, he fired his Hero's Light attack.

Vilgax was pushed back a few feet, but in the end he deflected it "An admirable effort but useless in the long run." he promptly hit Cody and Bridgette with a blast of crimson energy, sending them flying backwards and leaving all four of them in a heap.

Psyphon was quick to try and kiss Vilgax's ass "Excellent as always master, you have adapted flawlessly to the power of Diagon as I had expected. A single sweep of your hand and even the mightiest this world has to offer crumble before your unimaginable power-"

"Be silent Psyphon, you have done well in your task but do not test my patience. Besides, that was not the decisive blow that was necessary. Those humans are all still breathing." Vilgax grew a sadistic grin across his face "So then that means that I may continue to relish in the pain and suffering they feel, such is the fate of all who dare to defy Vilgax! I will conquer this universe for myself and bathe in the blood of all of those who would dare to stand in my way! All that is standing must fall by my hands and their bones be ground to dust beneath my feet!"

"You wanna bet Squid Face?" despite coughing up a good amount of blood, Adam was able to pull himself back to his feet and slammed his fist into the ground.

Cody was able to soon follow, panting heavily "I'm right… with you…"

"Cody, listen to me very carefully. I want you to take Bridgette and Alejandro and get out of here right now, I'm gonna have another crack at fighting Vilgax all by myself."

"What? But Adam-"

"No buts, I can't go all out knowing you guys are so close and can't defend yourselves or else I'll end up risking you getting caught in the crossfire. Take them and go rendezvous with Ben and his team at Mount Rushmore, see if you can find a way to turn the Esoterica soldiers back into humans."

"...Just promise me one thing. Kick his ass to kingdom come."

"Sure thing, and afterwards what do you say I take you and the others bowling to celebrate this win?"

"Yeah sure, just deal with this before then." so he grabbed Bridgette and Alejandro as well as his Yin Yang staff "You'd better not die on me Adam or I'll never forgive you." and so the three of them disappeared in a golden light.

"Oh trust me, I'm not going anywhere just yet."

"A promise you will never be able to keep." Vilgax let out a malicious chuckle "You may have been looking for a fight but one of us just signed our death warrant."

"Which raises the question Vilgax. Which one of us will make it out of here alive, you or me and my friends?"

"Only one way to find out."

"I guess so. **Cosmic Tempest TALON!"** Adam blitzed towards Vilgax and fired off a barrage of wind enhanced kicks.

Vilgax merely ducked underneath the attack, leaving Adam to sore overhead, which was just what he had wanted.

" **Cosmic Lightning ROAR!"** Adam breathed out a blast of lightning from his mouth, the blast hitting Vilgax at nearly point blank range.

When the smoke cleared, Vilgax had a few light burns across his face but aside from that he was nearly completely unharmed "Most impressive, I can see that you're clearly far more agile than you were a moment ago."

"Well now that it's just you and me I don't have to worry about hurting the others so that means that I can fight without having to hold back."

"An issue that I never had to deal with. **Dark Capriccio!"** Vilgax fired a dark blast of energy from his fingertips.

Adam managed to force himself out of the way right before the blast hit him, causing it to drill a hole into the side of the canyon.

"As you can see I'm ten times stronger now that the power of the Diagon belongs to me." and to prove this point, Vilgax waved his hand and the Dark Capriccio burst upwards from beneath the ground and decked Adam in the jaw, then began manipulating it through the air to strike him over and over again "You said before you were wondering which of us was going to make it out alive did you not? I think this display makes my point quite clear, the one that will survive this fight will not be you!"

"You wanna bet?! **Cosmic Lightning THUNDER FIST!"** Adam charged his fist with lightning and slammed it into the Dark Capriccio, straining to stop the attack as he was sent skidding backwards by the force, but eventually he was able to stop himself and dissolve the attack "Yeah that's not happening Squid Lips."

"I must say I am surprised that you were able to stop my attack with just one hand, but don't think something like that will be anywhere near enough for you to defeat me."

"Save me the arrogant spiel, I got enough of that from K'Vathrak and Lord Dregg as it is. I do have one thing to say first though." Adam got into a stance "I've never thought of myself as a hero or a savior or any of that, I didn't know what I was and for a long time I was just going with the flow of things. But a good man showed me that I can become something beyond a hero, a warrior who dedicates himself not to saving the world, but protecting what they hold dear and what they believe in."

 **Venit aveus ille**

 **O Messiah, O Messiah**

"The man who taught me this was a good man and a great knight, one who died the death of a true knight protecting his king."

 **Yuduliya ~ Vele**

 **Yuduliya ~ Vele**

 **Yuduliya ~ Vele**

 **Yuduliya Iyaliya**

"His name was Sir George, the first and true Forever Knight, and as thanks for what he taught me I will finish what he started." and so with a furious strain filled roar, Adam was engulfed in a massive white light and a force that shook the entire canyon.

 **Feel it drawing nearer**

 **An endless fear that takes you hold**

 **Feel it getting closer**

 **Revealing such an evil soul**

Vilgax was forced to brace himself so he wouldn't be blown away by "This power… What is he?!"

 **I can't surrender at the turning point of destiny**

 **Right now it's do or die; my life is on the line and I will not flee**

 **By my power**

 **Woah-woah, it's clear to me!**

 **My spirit grows and I will face this demon**

 **Woah-woah, with burning energy**

 **The day of fate has finally come!**

The light dissipated to reveal Adam standing there, his hair now a shade of electric blue with silver colored stripes running through it, his eyes the same shade of blue, lightning bolt marks appearing down his arms and legs with his body crackling with electricity "I hope you're ready for this Vilgax, now the real fight is about to begin. This is what I've been saving up since this war against you, the Diagon and the Esoterica began. Even when I transformed before I was holding back because I didn't want Sir George or Bridgette or any of the others to get caught in the crossfire, but now that they're gone I can finally cut loose a little bit. And just for you I've pulled out all of the stops, and now I'm giving you what I know you've been yearning for. Every last ounce of my maximum power has been brought to the surface, and now I'm gonna use it to take you down Vilgax, once and for all."

"Is that so?" Vilgax shot him a look of disdain "You've made a great mistake boy by daring to challenge me all on your own, I hold a power greater than anything else in this universe and even now you dare to stand against me."

"You don't scare me Vilgax, you didn't before and you don't now. I know that I'm not perfect by any means but that's what it means to put your trust in others, you understand and accept one another faults and all and you grow stronger together. My friends are what give me strength, the strength I need to take down scum like you!" with the ground shattering beneath his feet with every step he took, Adam blitzed forward and dealt Vilgax a vicious headbutt, followed by a sharp kick to the gut, sending him crashing through the wall of the canyon.

Vilgax bolted to his feet and fired another Dark Capriccio blast.

Adam backhanded it away with one hand without even flinching, and he charged forward and dealt Vilgax a rapid barrage of punches and kicks, receiving a kick to the jaw in the process, but he quickly rebounded and responded with a kick to the torso.

"DIE!" Vilgax backhanded Adam straight across the face.

" **Cosmic Lightning… ROAR!"** Adam breathed out a blast of lightning at Vilgax at point blank range, sending him soaring into the air before he crashed to the ground in a heap.

' _This power… No, it couldn't be…'_ Vilgax pulled himself back to his feet and studied Adam for a moment, and he seemed to see the silhouette of what looked like a hulking dragon creature appear behind him ' _This is the power of the legends, the Cosmic Force!'_

Adam took a moment to get a grip on his newfound power ' _Man this is insane, I knew that each time I transformed before I was holding back so that I wouldn't accidentally hurt the others but I had no idea I had this much power left over. My power must be double what it was when I fought against Metallum, maybe even triple that!'_

"I never expected you to be able to master such a power. The Cosmic Force is the ultimate level of power that can be achieved by one who holds a Cosmic Lacrima, from what I understand it gives the user destructive power greater than any other force in the universe. I must say the prospect of seeing what this power is capable of is quite intriguing, so show me what the power of a Cosmic Elemental is truly capable of!"

"Are you sure you want me to do that?"

"The power of a Cosmic Elemental against the power of Diagon, or rather I suppose now I should say the power of Vilgax. The concept intrigues me. Show me."

"Fine, but you asked for it! **Cosmic Lightning ANNIHILATION FIST!"** Adam fired off a massive fist made of pure lightning.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the same time, Cody materialized with Bridgette and Alejandro inside the Plumbers' base at Mount Rushmore "Good, looks like we made it."

"You guys alright?" Ben helped them to their feet.

"More or less. So this is the base inside of Mount Rushmore, that's gotta be some kind of record."

"Across a normal planet sure, believe it or not that takes a lot more energy than it does to travel across dimensions."

"Makes sense, I mean other dimension or not you're still technically standing in the same spot as before." Ben handed him a glass of juice "You'd better get something in you, you've gotta be wasted after that."

"Thanks."

"Sure. So what's the ETA on Vilgax?"

"We fought him all at once but he wasted us without even batting an eye, Adam made me take these two away while he fought Vilgax one on one."

"Is he nuts?"

"Quite the opposite, I know Adam and I know as well as him that he couldn't go all out knowing we were still there. We was trying to protect us so that we wouldn't get caught in the crossfire and now he must be giving Vilgax a run for his money."

"Huh. Makes sense."

"So where are Gwen and Kevin?"

"They're outside fighting off Vilgax's Esoterica, I'm staying here to wait for you guys and see if you need help."

"Well now you don't have to worry, I'm gonna go back and help him. After all we can't let him kill Vilgax or…"

"Yeah I know, plus they're the fact that we've gotta get the power of Diagon out of Vilgax somehow."

"I think I have the answer to that." Ben picked up something that he had collected before he was teleported away from the battlefield, in the form of Ascalon, and he used the sword to cut open a portal "I'll send some kind of flare when the battle is over." and he disappeared into the portal, which then closed behind him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The battle between the dragon and the Cosmic Knight raged on.

Vilgax was able to block Adam's Cosmic Lightning Thunder Fist, but just barely, and he promptly slammed his hands into the ground "You will never be able to defeat me! **Dark Gravity!"** he slammed his hands onto the ground and shattered it, causing Adam to fall into some sort of underground chasm, causing Vilgax to smirk sadistically "Don't tell me that I was able to defeat you as quickly as this, I expected more from the mighty Cosmic Elemental." and he leapt into the chasm himself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Adam found himself lying near a large hole filled with molten lava "Hot damn he threw me really far down into that hole.

" **Dark Deletion!"** Vilgax burst downwards towards him.

Adam was able to use a blast of wind from his Wind Stormers to push himself back up to the surface, narrowly avoiding being hit by the attack.

" **Zero Slash!"** Vilgax summoned a Dark Capriccio and used it like a whip.

Adam managed to maneuver his way around the attack " **Cosmic Tempest ROAR!"** he breathed out a blast of wind and hit Vilgax in the fact at point blank range.

" **Dark Delete!"** Vilgax burst out from the rubble and fired a barrage of energy blasts, managing to hit Adam with it as the marks across his body began to fade, and then Vilgax followed up by hitting Adam square in the chest with a Dark Capriccio, sending him tumbling backwards "Is this all of the power the might Cosmic Elemental is capable of?"

"NOT EVEN CLOSE!" Adam burst out from beneath the rubble and clashed with Vilgax, their fists colliding in a massive shockwave that shattered the cliffs of the canyon, but it quickly backfired as Adam's Cosmic Knight form suddenly ran out, leaving him at Vilgax's mercy ' _This is bad, I guess my body must've reached its limit.'_

Now in complete domination over the battle, Vilgax looked down on Adam and began stomping on his back "Are you telling me this is the best the almighty Cosmic Force is capable of? The legendary Cosmic Elementals once ruled over the universe and this is the extent of their so called unrivalled power?! Such a travesty is nothing but ludicrous, and this embarrassment of a battle shall be forgotten." he fired an energy blast and prepared to finish Adam off, only for a figure to deflect it, one that Vilgax recognized all too well "So you've returned… Ben Tennyson."

Sure enough, Ben stood before him holding Ascalon pointed at his adversary "You didn't really think I was just gonna up and run did you Vilgax?"

"Of course not, I was merely occupying myself with that boy. As if he could ever hope to defeat me, power of Diagon or not. I am far more powerful that a mere brat like him could ever dream of being."

"And yet you could never defeat me."

"Which leads us to where we are now, here once again. Me, more powerful than ever and on the cusp of total and utter victory and domination. You, the last man standing and the only slim hope left for this world this universe as a whole. Tell me, what will it be? Diamondhead or Swampfire, or perhaps one of your tiresome ultimate aliens? Perhaps you have yet another new irritating transformation to spring on me?"

"No transformations, not this time at least. But I do have one last surprise." he raised Ascalon up for emphasis.

"The sword that Azmuth gave to the old man."

"Yep, goes nicely with the watch don't you think?" he gestured to the Ultimatrix "Kind of a matching set."

"...I'm going to miss these little get togethers of ours." and so Vilgax fired another Dark Capriccio.

Ben cut the blast in half using Ascalon "Hot damn this is a good sword."

"I'm not afraid of you Tennyson, I never have been and I never will be!"

"Yeah well if you were smart then you would be Vilgax, you see I just figured out how to use this thing." and to prove his point Ben was suddenly clad in a knight's armor, only it was green like the Ultimatrix, and Ascalon had turned green as well "Now them, it's Hero Time-"

"Hold it." despite some struggles, Adam was able to pull himself back to his feet with blood pouring from his wounds "You know something Vilgax, what you said before has really been bugging me."

"Is that so?" Vilgax looked on at Adam with disdain "And what would that be?"

"You said that my strength comes from the Cosmic Lacrima within me, but that could be further from the truth. It's not the Cosmic power or anything like that that gives me strength, it's the knowledge that my friends are alive and well that's more than enough to keep me going. I can feel them in spirit cheering me on, I can hear their voices loud and clear and they're telling me that no matter what happens I can't give up on this fight. My friends are what keeps me going, encouraging me to keep putting one foot in front of the other. They're the only reason I'm still drawing breath!" and as if on cue, Adam's Cosmic Knight form roared back into life "Their spirits are so strong, I can feel their power and spirits flowing into me, their strength overflowing in my soul! MY FRIENDS ARE MY REASON FOR LIVING!" and his power level exploded even higher "Ben stay back, I wanna finish this one myself."

"Spare me the theatrics. If there were some way, if I could harness the power of your Cosmic Force for myself. Unfortunately such a thing is not possible, but since I no longer have any use for you I shall unleash my ultimate attack and return you to the nothingness from once you came! **GENESIS ZERO!"** he formed a ring of black and green energy "And now you shall be dragged into the depths of nothingness!"

" **Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: SHATTERED LIGHT: LIGHTNING DRILL!"** using every ounce of power he could muster, Adam unleashed his Shattered Light: Sky Drill, only with lightning energy mixed into it, and with another mighty roar he burst forward.

"This universe shall come to an end before me very eyes, within a matter of moments my new era of nothingness shall be ushered in! **Genesis… ZERO!"** using the Genesis Zero, Vilgax summoned a horde of black demonic spirits "Now open, portal of the traveller's wails! Go travellers of the void between dimensions, I want you to consume the soul of that boy as well as his memory! Consume his very existence!" and so the souls that were lost between dimensions engulfed Adam and snuffed out his attack, engulfing him before they disappeared "And now you too are one of the souls trapped between dimensions in the infinite void, farewell." then he turned to Ben "I didn't expect you to actually stay out of it, isn't it like a hero to swoop in and help someone in need?"

"Maybe like a hero, but that would mean disrespecting a knight's honor. Adam is a brave knight who protects what he believes in, so it was only right to let him have a go." Ben proceeded to raise Ascalon "Now then, as my old friend Sir George used to say, and as my new friend Adam has adopted from him, have at thee!" he pulled down the visor on his helmet and charged forward.

Vilgax met his charge, resulting in a blinding white light.

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Adam found himself in the void between dimensions, his mind drifting with the endlessness of the void ' _What the hell… What is this? This sucks, I can't see anything and I can't hear anything except for my own thoughts. I don't have any strength left, and even if I did Vilgax made it pretty clear that it wouldn't be enough to take him out. But Bridgette, Cody and Alejandro, and Ben and the others too, they're all counting on me, and now Ben is fighting Vilgax on his own. What the hell am I supposed to do?'_

"What you're supposed to do is get a grip you peon." a hauntingly familiar voice echoed throughout the void "What the hell happened to you? How could you let some stupid squid man defeat you so easily? Such a letdown, and to think you once managed to defeat me?"

' _That voice…_ No way, it can't be… Mal."

Sure enough, a silhouette of Mal appeared before him, but he didn't appear as malicious or hateful as he once had and he also lacked the same shadowy presence that had always accompanied him, instead he appeared rather benevolent "Was all that talk about protecting those you hold dear just a load of hot air? And you think you can protect them, especially Mike, when your willpower is so weak that you let him take you down? I thought you knew how to take pride in your resolve."

"Of course I do. You know something Mal, for the first few years after our first fight I thought that beating you was the only reason I had to live, but thanks to the people in my life like Carlos and Bridgette and everyone else I now have a reason to live past it, a reason to actually want to survive. I strayed from the path you tried to set me on, and now I'm forging a new path, one that I carved myself. When you show yourself I'm gonna fight you just like you want but I won't fight for the sake of revenge, it'll be for the reason I promised myself years ago: to save my friend, and I won't let you drag me back onto that path. Now if you'll excuse me, I've gotta find a way to get back to the battlefield."

"Why do you think I'm here? Listen up peon, I'm gonna go ahead and give you a hand this time around."

"What you wanna take me over the way that you did Mike, is that it? Forget it, I already told you that I'm not your pawn and I never will be-"

"Spare me your noble speech on heroics or whatever, my motives are totally selfish and all I'm gonna do is give you a small portion of my power. You already know as well as I do that you coming into Mike's life is the main reason why he's suffered as much as he has, you're the one who forced my hand. But still despite that the last thing I need is for Mike to be turned into some mindless Esoterica. Plus I hate that giant Diagon lizard thing, I'd rather have to deal with you than him. Besides, if anyone is going to kill you then it's gonna be me. That right belongs to me and me alone, you got that?"

"...Fine, what do you have in mind?"

"This." Mal slammed his fist directly into Adam's chest, flames covering his arm and being transferred into Adam's body "Now go get him. Oh and one last word of advice, keep an eye out for the shadow and make sure it doesn't mess with you any more than it already has." and with that, Mal faded away.

Adam stared at his hands, which were now covered in crimson flames, and he gripped his fists tightly "Right!"

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The battle raged onwards.

Vilgax ducked underneath a slash from Ascalon and dealt Ben a solid uppercut, sending him skidding backwards "You think you have what it takes to defeat me?"

"I don't think it, I know it!" Ben charged at Vilgax and fired off a barrage of slashes from his sword.

Vilgax blitzed in front of Ben and attempted to smash him down into the ground, and he fired off a barrage of energy blasts.

Ben managed to cut through all of them in one clean stroke "You sure you wanna keep going like this?"

"Even with the power of Azmuth's sword you're far too weak, you'll always be weak. After all of these years my darkest shame can be wiped from the face of the universe forever."

"You're talking to me about being weak? You're the one who stole Diagon's powers in order to beat me but you couldn't even beat Adam."

"That boy is lost between dimensions, he will never see the light of day again."

"YOU WANNA BET?!" a thunderous voice roared.

Vilgax was suddenly slammed in the jaw by a bolt of lightning "What?!"

Ben looked back and smirked "Well well, took your sweet time getting back. I've gotta say I like the new look Adam."

Sure enough, before them stood Adam, now back in his Cosmic Knight form but with one noticeable difference, that being that half of the silver strikes through his electric blue hair had turned a deep shade of crimson "Looks like that fiery little jumpstart was more than enough to get me back here."

"What up with the change in appearance though?"

"The last person I expected to see showed up in my head and he gave me some of his powers for the fight, he said that if anyone was gonna take me down then it was gonna be him. You'd better stand back Ben, this bastard is mine."

"...Kick his ass to kingdom come." so Ben backed off.

"I plan to." Adam's body began crackling with electricity, a strong wind surrounding him as well, along with a barrier of crimson colored flames "Get ready for round 3 Vilgax, you're gonna pay for what you've done to my friends and to everyone else. _This power is amazing, I've never felt anything like it!'_

"Don't think you can intimidate me boy!" Vilgax fired off a Dark Capriccio, only for it to suddenly dissipate "What?!"

"YOU'RE MINE!" Adam surged forward and slugged Vilgax directly across the face, sending him crashing into the wall of the canyon " **Cosmic Tempest TALON!"** he followed up with a wind enhanced kick to the face, which was followed by Vilgax being hit out of nowhere by a bolt of lightning, followed by Adam dealing him a barrage of punches and kicks enhanced by wind, lightning and fire in that order, the pattern repeating itself "This is what happens to anyone who messes with my friends! This is for Bridgette, for Cody, for Alejandro, for Sir George, and for everyone you and the Diagon and his Esoterica have hurt! BURN IN HELL VILGAX!"

"YOU GO FIRST!" Vilgax prepared to fire off another Genesis Zero, only for the energy blast to dissipate before it could even form "What?!"

Yeah as it turns out, Ben had managed to cut through the attack using Ascalon "I've had just about enough of you."

"TENNYSON!"

"Now's your chance Adam, finish it!"

"RIGHT!" with a mighty roar, Adam's triple elemental Cosmic Knight form began radiating even greater power as he surged forward.

"You come any closer and I'll kill you where you stand!" Vilgax began desperately firing a barrage of energy blasts.

Adam powered through all of them without even batting an eye and blitzed behind Vilgax before he could react " **Cosmic Tempest CYCLONE STRIKE!"** he dealt Vilgax a two handed wind attack from behind, sending him flying high into the air.

"I wanna get in on this too!" Ben charged at Vilgax in mid air and slashed him across his torso using Ascalon, before following up with a large barrage of slashes, sending Vilgax crashing to the ground "Now Adam, deal the finishing blow!"

"Right! And now Vilgax, this battle ends! **Advanced Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: Cosmic Lotus: EXPLODING HURRICANE BLADE!"** using every last ounce of power that he could muster, blowing Vilgax away in a massive explosion that engulfed the entire canyon and the surrounding area.

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Cody looked out from the Plumbers' base inside Mount Rushmore and saw the explosion in the distance ' _Looks like they ended this.'_ he looked back to where Bridgette and Alejandro were coming too "You guys ready?"

Bridgette nodded "We're ready, they're gonna need our help."

"I doubt that but we should still hurry, let's go get Gwen and Kevin and head back to the battlefield."

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The dark clouds overlooking the canyon seemed to dissipate along with the smoke from the ensuing explosion.

The battle was over, and the heroes, or rather hero and knight, had won at long last.

Vilgax had been left on the ground in a bloody and burnt heap, his aura from the power he had stolen from Diagon flickering out of existence "That power… it gives you… the power of… a Cosmic Elemental… and in turn… the power to defeat them as well… You truly are… the warrior of the universal prophecy… the Warrior of the Hurricane…"

"We've been over this before Vilgax, but clearly you still don't get it." Adam finally dropped back to his normal form "My strength doesn't come from the Cosmic Lacrima, sure it's what gives me these insanely badass elemental powers but what gives me the strength to use those powers is my burning desire to protect my friends. That's something you never did really understand." he coughed up some blood ' _No more doubting myself, no more fearing the what ifs of the choices I make. From now on it's non stop fighting and protecting until I know that my friends are safe. I never thought I'd say this but… thank you Mal.'_

"I… suppose not…"

"And you know something else? This right here is something that someone should've done a long time ago." out of nowhere, Ben stabbed Vilgax in the torso with Ascalon, bathing the are in a white light.

When the light dissipated, it revealed Vilgax, now back in his normal form, still drained of any power "You… You stabbed me!"

"Don't act like such a wimp, all I did was use the sword to absorb all of the power that you stole from Diagon. Oh yeah, and I absorbed the powers that you stole from the heroes of those ten worlds that you conquered."

"You know I've gotta admit, I'm glad you came back." Adam commented "I mean if it wasn't for you then I doubt I would've been able to defeat him."

"Yeah well my victories usually aren't solo."

"Then you… truly are a fool…" Vilgax's tone was laced with venom and mischief "You have the Ultimatrix, the sword of Azmuth and the power of Diagon, all at your fingertips."

"Yeah what's your point?"

"You claim to be a hero… now that you have all of this power at your disposal…what do intend to do with it?"

"Well the first thing I'm gonna do is turn every Esoterica on Earth back into humans and undo what was done by Diagon."

"You always… think too small… Tennyson… We are alike… you and I… we take the universe… in our hands… and mold it… to our will… You say you want peace and justice… I say you use your power, with little more than a single thought you could wipe out all evil…"

"...I really could couldn't I?"

"Yes… do it…"

"Back it the hell up a minute Tennyson." Adam cut him off "I think we've both seen enough movies to know that if the bad guy is making sense then you know that something is seriously wrong."

"Do you not… see it boy? Adam? The end of… your struggles… is at hand… He can create… whatever universe… he imagines… You could wipe out… all evil… Do it."

"Tennyson you can't really be thinking about taking moral advice from Vilgax? Do I really need to point out how stupid that sounds? And I'm pretty sure that your girlfriend is here to prove my point."

Sure enough, at that moment Julie dropped down from the sky covered by Ship in the form of a suit of armor, with Cody and the others appearing not far behind her "I thought we agreed that we were gonna make all of our big decisions together."

"Ship's a good hunting dog, I'm guessing that's how you found us right?" Ben was answered with a bark from Ship.

"You know we all love you Ben, you know that I love you. That's why we can't let you do this, if you try to then you're the same as Vilgax or Diagon or Aggregor or any of the other bad guys you've beaten so far."

"You would try and stop me?"

"I'd take you down without a second thought." Adam's tone was flat.

"And you're not afraid of me?"

"We've never had any reason to be afraid of you, least of all me."

"Oh please. Julie you're always telling me that I should use my technology and power to help more people, well now I can help everyone at once."

"There's a line with these things Tennyson, I don't know where it is exactly but I've come close to crossing it enough times to know that this is way on the wrong side of it."

But Vilgax wasn't done trying to tempt him "Power is meaningless if it isn't used, do it."

"Yeah okay I've had more than enough of you." and without even looking at him, Adam proceeded to hit Vilgax with a blast of lightning at point blank range, atomizing him before he even had time to scream, ending his reign of terror "Don't you get it yet Tennyson? It's the power, it's messing with your head. You're tempted like Gwen was tempted to go full Anotide or like when Kevin threw a huge destructive tantrum after he absorbed the power of the Ultimatrix in order to stop Aggregor. You can't force your answers on everyone. After everything that you've accomplished, everything you've been through, is this really how you want all of that to end?"

"That's enough! Just stop talking, I need to think!" and so Ben walked off a short distance away to think.

' _Huh. So he really is voiced by the same guy that voiced Sasuke Uchiha, now I'm really starting to hear it.'_

Ben began reminiscing on the events over the past two years, from putting the Omnitrix back on to losing it to Vilgax and putting on the Ultimatrix, and from his secret identity being revealed to the world to the present ' _No, this isn't how the story of a hero ends.'_ so with his resolve solidified, Ben placed both of his hands on Ascalon and held up the sword as a white light emerged from the blade that covered the entire planet, before the light disappeared "And that's how we do it when it's Hero Time."

"So what did you do?"

"What I said I was going to do, turn every Esoterica on Earth back into humans, with all of the free will that goes along with that." and so he retracted his armor back into Ascalon, with the sword returning to normal as well and dropped the sword to the ground.

"I knew you wouldn't let us down Ben." Julie ran up to Ben as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a heated kiss.

"And now I'm sure, that was totally worth giving up all of that power."

"Yeah but getting to keep both the power and the girl is awesome too." Adam was promptly nudged in the gut by Bridgette "But still I knew you would do the right thing, way to be the hero."

"Well being a knight doesn't look so bad either. I've really gotta thank you Adam, if it wasn't for you then this could've turned out a lot worse than it actually was."

"Well it turned out better than it did in the TV version, that battle was super anticlimactic and it only lasted for like a minute. Plus in that version Winston died and Vilgax was only arrested."

"You just offed him."

"Did the universe a favor."

"And in this version that kid survived, so I guess your presence has a lot more of an impact than either of us had thought." Ben looked down at Ascalon "So that raises the question, what are we gonna do with this?"

"Aurora said that she arranged with Azmuth for me to have that, but I think the main goal was for me to awaken my Cosmic Knight form."

"Indeed it was." that was when Azmuth appeared before them "I suggest you return that sword to its creator. Aurora did speak the truth about the sword being intended for the Warrior of the Hurricane, but before that I have to make some modifications to it. Only then will I allow you to wield it."

"Fine, whatever you've gotta do."

"Very well. Now then, Ben Tennyson."

"Way ahead of you." Ben held out Ascalon to Azmuth, which prompted him to touch it and send it off into the stars "You were right, that's too much power for any-" he paused when he noticed that Azmuth was expecting something else "What?"

"The Ultimatrix, give it to me."

"...Okay." so Ben held out his wrist, causing the Ultimatrix to fall off and disappear, much to his surprise "But Azmuth I thought I proved that I was worthy."

"As usual you don't understand, you have proven your worth but this inferior copy of my Omnitrix isn't worthy of you."

"I… I don't-"

"Oh for the love of- Will you just look at your wrist already?"

Ben looked down at his wrist and noticed a certain something attached to him "No way, is this a new Omnitrix?"

"That's not just any Omnitrix, this is _the_ Omnitrix. Or more accurately it's an improved version that I've been working on ever since you gained the prototype six years ago."

"I don't know how I can even begin to thank you."

"You can thank me by continuing to do the right thing."

"...I don't suppose you'd be willing to give me the Master Control?"

"Ask me again on your eighteenth birthday." and with that, he disappeared.

Ben looked over at Julie, Gwen and Kevin, then down at his new Omnitrix "So then I guess the adventure continues."

"And in the meantime, we've gotta be heading back." Adam took this chance to shake hands with Ben "If you ever need help again then just call."

"The same to you, Cosmic Knight. You take care now."

"You too Mr Hero Time." and with that, he, Cody, Bridgette and Alejandro all took their leave back to their dimension.

 **A/N:**

 **Now that Adam has gained his Cosmic Knight form and a good portion of his Cosmic Knight armor, I figured it was time to wrap up the Diagon plot from the Ben 10 dimension, with an epic battle between Adam and Vilgax to go with it. I mean sure the ending of Ultimate Alien was kickass but I've noticed some people point out that the final battle between Ben (with Ascalon) and Vilgax (with the power of Diagon) was a little bit lackluster. So yeah, Cosmic Knight Adam vs Diagon Vilgax with Adam just barely losing and Vilgax being weakened enough to the point where he would lose to Ben for the umpteenth time in the end.**

 **I gave Alejandro the ability to manipulate light energy (or Chi, Ki, whatever the hell you want to call it) because I figured he needed something so that he could keep up with the others, that and I thought it would be both cool and fitting for him to have a pair of energy claws like Black Panther (only able to fire off blasts of energy from the tips of the claws) since his Crimson Jaguar power is based on that of the Black Panther.**

 **I gave Bridgette her own Cosmic Force semi transformation (she only has one Cosmic Lacrima in her body during the actual battle) early because I wanted to make sure she could keep up with Adam and the others, and to further make sure of this also gave her ice manipulation abilities.**

 **The speech that Sir George gave Adam right before his death was a combination of two speeches from two shows, or one show and one anime: the speech that Piandao (the Fire Nation master swordsman) gave Sokka in Avatar: the Last Airbender when he gave him his sword, and the speech that Obito gave Naruto and Kakashi right before his death in Naruto: Shippuden.**

 **I decided to let Winston survive this time because I actually kind of liked him, and I figured that with Sir George gone now someone needed to be able to lead the Forever Knights. I mean aside from the missing arm that is, but I'll go into that next chapter.**

 **I figured that part of the reason for the final fight being so lackluster was because of how Ben didn't even use the power of the Ultimatrix and just stabbed Vilgax using the sword, so I decided to come up with something somewhat new: the Ultimatrix altering the effects of Ascalon so that Ben's armor is green instead of silver, plus the blade of Ascalon turns green with the Ultimatrix symbol on the blade. Pretty cool right?**

 **Adam gaining Ascalon after everything is all said and done was an idea that I came up with a while ago, I was just going to let him keep Shatterstorm but I decided that a battleaxe like that wasn't very knight like so I cut out Shatterstorm in his last battle with Metallum and decided to give him Ascalon instead. I was going to just have him forge his own sword out of a meteorite like Sokka did in that one episode of Avatar: the Last Airbender, but I figured this was better.**

 **The scene where Adam transforms for his final battle with Vilgax features lyrics from the Team Four Star cover of Day of Fate that they used in DBZ Abridged. I thought it was fitting for the scene and it was a good homage to Team Four Star.**

 **Mal appearing in Adam's subconscious to spur him on was an idea that I came up with at the last minute, it's meant to do three things:**

 **First off all, it's based on Kurama giving Naruto some of his power during the initial encounter with Madara.**

 **Secondly, it's meant to give Mal some character development. Seriously, the last thing I want is for my big bad to have such a one dimensional personality. Plus I have a plot twist in mind for later that I came up with while I was watching Fairy Tail.**

 **Thirdly, it's meant to give Adam something totally kickass.**


	11. Darkness and Light

**(Takes place between during chapters 19-20 of the Ridonculous Underdogs)**

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" _Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the Wind and Lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take both their powers for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallium was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see that Metallum would fall for his betrayal. However, that is not the whole story. What very few are aware of is that there are two other Cosmic Elementals who refused to take part in the war, two who refused to take sides because they were unsure of how the evolution or mortals would turn out in the end. These two were known as Illuminare and Tenebris, the Cosmic Elementals of Light and Darkness. As the war between their fellow Cosmic Elementals raged on and ravaged the universe, they had retreated into the shadows to observe how the mortals would react. They had wondered if the mortals of the lower realms of each universe were creatures that were truly deserving of the protection of the gods. I have observed the dealings than I would care to count. Mortals thrive, they quarrel, they perish, and they repeat this same cycle time and time again on an endless loop. At that time it seemed to me that for them to keep doing this would be the height of futility. I had even gone so far as to wonder what sense there was in protecting such flawed beings when they would consistently repeat the same tragic mistakes time and time again without showing any signs of developing, and ponder if it were to be more merciful on our part to put an end to such hopeless cycles once and for all. However, after the fated battle between Metallum and Tempestatis had at last come to a close and the mortals began to rebuild the remains of their civilizations across the universe, that was when Metallum appeared and offered a solution to their dilemma. They would pool their power into one point and create a warrior that was mixed of both light and darkness, intended to follow the spirit of Tempestatis for as long as he reincarnated through over one hundred lifetimes in over one hundred different races. Now the mission of the Warrior of the Hurricane has become much more grave, and if both Metallum and his warrior of darkness are not slain then the legacy of the Cosmic Elementals will be forever tarnished and lost to the memory of time."_

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Adam opened his eyes and found himself in a black void ' _This is another dream about_ _ **him**_ _isn't it? Well forget it, this is something that I should've done a long time ago._ I'm not here to waste any time, go ahead and show yourself Mal."

Sure enough, Mal appeared before him, appearing as he had in the void between dimensions, lacking the sinister shadowy figure that always spoke for him "So you decided to come back then did you?"

"Spare me the menacing threats, I'm only here now because I have something to say to you. I should've said this to you a long time ago but I didn't because I was scared, but I'm not scared anymore. For so long I let my fear and hatred of you force me not to trust anyone, I refused to trust not only the people I held most dear, but also myself. I kept telling myself that I could never be a hero no matter how much I wanted to believe that I could, that if someone like me holds hatred in their hearts then they could never be a hero. And over time, I stopped wanting to be a hero because I believed my words to be true. I've done all I can for the sake of others, I've protected those who couldn't protect themselves, I protected them even when they refused my help, I did what I could to bring out the best in people, to make friends out of everyone I met was just a secondary sort of thing, and I just saw faith in everyone that I met without even trying to do any of that. But Cody was right about what he said before, no matter how many people I've had faith in it doesn't make up for the fact that I've never had any faith in myself. I made constant promises to Carlos, to Bridgette and to all of my friends that I wouldn't let myself slip down the path of vengeance, and yet all this time I never bothered to make that promise to myself, the most important one of all. I see you right in front me, and I here what you have to say, and it's nothing. I'm not the same empty weak hearted little kid that I was all those years ago, if I was then I might let you tempt me because that would be the easy thing to do. I'm done taking the easy path, and I'm done with empty. I'm done with you too. You let vengeance consume you years ago, and now I'm done letting vengeance consume me. This is something that I swear, not to Bridgette, not to Cody, not to Alejandro, not even to Carlos. I just swore this to myself, like I should've done in the first place."

"...Well it's about time you got the guts to do that." Mal breathed a sigh of relief and frustration as he ran a hand through his hair "I was wondering when you would grow enough balls to do that."

"Excuse me?"

"Look I don't have a lot of time to explain before he finds me but what I can tell you is this, that shadow figure that's been following me around all this time-"

"It's been possessing you like when Jellal got possessed by Ultear posing as the ghost or Zeref or when Rogue got possessed by whatever the hell that shadow thing was, yeah I kinda figured that out."

"You did? How?"

"Evil shadowy figure speaking for you was one thing that triggered my suspicions for a long time but I was too young and naive to see past the fact that you killed my parents." this caused him to flinch "Yeah save the angst for later. Anyway Fairy Tail references aside, I kind of figured that something was off about that but I didn't know what, but when Aurora told me about the Cosmic Elementals I knew that had something to do with it. The only question is, which of those 6 could manipulate shadows like that? From what I've been told it doesn't look like any of them would have any sort of abilities like that."

"Exactly. I don't know where he came from but what I do know is that that thing has to go down and soon, the longer he has a grip on me the more powerful he gets."

"Yeah well keep your pants on, I'll figure this out and then I'll kick this shadow guy's ass all the way to kingdom come."

"Of that, I have no doubt." and with that, Mal disappeared.

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Adam opened his eyes and looked over to find Bridgette sleeping peacefully beside him with her head using his shoulder as a makeshift pillow, and he just leaned back and pulled her close, his mind wandering ' _Yeah you got that right Mal, I'm not gonna fail. Not ever again. No more doubting myself, no more fearing the what ifs, no more being afraid of letting my vengeance consume me. The people in my life like the beautiful woman in my arms, my little brother, the memory of my mentor, my honorable ally seeking redemption, and all of my other friends, they are what gives me the strength that I need to move past vengeance. I'll take Metallum down and then I'll take this shadow guy down, and as for Mal… Well we'll have to go from there. But in any case, from now on I'm not gonna stop fighting and protecting until I know that my friends are safe.'_ XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hours passed, and the sun was rising over the skies of Canada.

Aurora was meditating in front of the Waterfall of Light, and she didn't even have to open her eyes to know who was there "I imagined you would be coming back Adam."

Sure enough, Adam stood behind her equipped with his Hurricane Gauntlets and his Wind Stormer boots "You and I need to talk."

"I thought I suggested that you and the others take a few days to relax and unwind after the events of the war with Vilgax the Esoterica."

"Yeah you did, until last night when Mal appeared to me in another dream and I put my hypothesis to the test, in which I had theorized that the shadowy figure that always appeared with him was been possessing him for years. What's the deal with that Aurora, what are you not telling me? Is there more to the Cosmic Elementals than you're letting on?"

"...So you figured it out, I had anticipated as much. Very well." Aurora exited her meditative stance and turned to face him "Come back to me later on when Mike returns later today, I believe that it's only fitting."

"Fine, I guess that makes sense but this is the only time I'm letting you stall this situation you got it?"

"Of course."

"And by the way, one other thing."

"Oh yes, I almost forgot." she materialized a magnificent looking sword in her hands and held it out to him "Azmuth finished the modifications to Ascalon and delivered it to me last night around midnight. Along with being able to tap into the forces of the universe itself, it now taps into the forces within the user and amplifies them several times over. To put it simply, it taps into the Cosmic Lacrima within your body and allows you to channel the energy through the blade as part of your attacks. You can use wind and lightning based sword techniques, as well as the new fire techniques that you acquired in your final battle with Vilgax. And instead of granting armor to you like it did to Sir George and other previous wielders, it reinforces the Hurricane Gauntlets and Wind Stormer boots you now wear, as well as the final piece of your armor I will send you to acquire in a few days time."

"Uh huh. Now for the other thing, what's going on with Patient 0?"

"I don't know why you keep calling him that but the squire of the Forever Knights is still resting after receiving his injuries while protecting Sir George."

"And his arm?"

"Unfortunately restoring it is beyond my power, such is the price of being a knight who is willing to give everything to protect his king. But perhaps you can give him some semblance of having a normal life."

"We'll see about that soon enough."

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The sun was shining over Ocean Falls.

Winston, now clad in normal clothes such as a red collared shirt and a pair of blue jeans, with some bandages covering the stump where his arm used to be, looked around the town with eyes filled with curiosity "This is…"

"Not what you expected?" Adam turned to face him, now wearing a light blue quarter zip and a pair of khaki shorts "Yeah don't expect too much, I doubt you'll see anything here that you wouldn't see in any other normal town in Canada. Aurora and I thought you could use a little bit of fresh air after everything that you put yourself through."

"I see." Winston looked around "It does come off as rather typical, and yet at the same time it gives me a sense of peacefulness and serenity. I feel…"

"At home?"

"Yes. So what do I do now? Now that the Forever Knights are nearly eradicated, now that the Esoterica and the Diagon are gone… now that Sir George is gone?"

"That's up to you to decide." he looked up at the clouds "You know cloud watching is something that I always did when I was little just to take my mind off of things. That one up there looks a lot like Cody, and that other one reminds me of Alejandro."

"...When I look up at the clouds, I see my mother and father who gave me life and brought me into this world. Whenever things were hard or sad, I would always stare up at the clouds. I would just stare at them and let my imagination run free with the wind. I would always daydream about the place where I was born, about my family and what they would be like. Those dreams were what helped me to endure my loneliness and the pain of not knowing what it was like to have a home or to be part of a family. It was the only way I was able to accept being truly alone in the world."

"I see."

"I don't really know anything about my family or where I came from, all I know is that when I was a child scrounging through the trash just to survive Sir Cyrus found me and offered me a place in his order of knights. It was brutal and harsh in every sense of it, but it was the closest I ever came to feeling as if I was part of a family. It was the only place that I felt like people truly accepted me."

"And that's why you put up with all of that abuse?"

"I don't know if that's the word I'd use, but yes."

"...You know I had always known that despite the crap the rest of those guys put you through you had a better heart than any of them. Sir George knew it too."

"I had asked him why he held such interest in you, he said that he saw in you what he had seen in me. The heart of a true knight who just needed to understand his true place in the world, and then he would achieve true greatness."

"Yeah I guess so, all I really know is that I wanna protect the people I care about. Sir George was a good man and a great knight, far beyond anything a hero could ever be. Yeah. He was a good man, a great knight, far beyond anything a hero could ever be. I learned a lot from him in just a few days, and he taught me a bunch of really cool things like what exactly my purpose is and what I can do with my life. I've always said I'm not a hero, but now I know what I am. I'm a knight, a knight that protects his kingdom and all who live in it. And for the first time in a long time… I'm not scared of myself anymore."

"He also mentioned something about you having to face a great challenge of your own, one that would push you to the brink both physically and emotionally."

"...Yeah I do, and thanks to his teachings combined with those of my late mentor Carlos I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders, like I can finally learn to let go of my fear and doubts and move on. I can never even begin to repay either of them for that."

"I see."

"Yeah. So you wanna go and grab some lunch? I know a great deli a few blocks away that makes a kickass corn beef sandwich on rye."

"...Sure, I always did love a good club sandwich."

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Sunset came, and things were dying down.

Adam placed some flowers down on Carlos' grave "Hey Carlos, it's me again. I've been through a lot of stuff over the past few weeks, but I think it's what I needed. After all of the insanity of fighting with the Ninja Turtles, Ben 10 and Kung Fu Panda, I think I finally freed myself of my fears of vengeance. It was actually thanks to Sir George, the leader of the Forever Knights in the world of Ben 10. He taught me how to be a knight that protects his king, that follows his path to the very end, and how to go beyond anything a hero could ever be. But now for the first time in years… I'm not scared of myself anymore." he glanced back briefly "You get all that or do I need to go through another rundown Mike?"

Sure enough, Mike was standing behind him "No I got all of it. It's been awhile."

"A few weeks or so as far as I know." they had a quick bro hug "So what do you think, do I look like the pinnacle of a knight in shining armor now?"

"Gauntlets, metal boots, martial arts gi, I'm still getting an anime vibe."

"Dammit, you always have to be strict with your anime comparisons."

"Well it's what I do." Mike studied Adam for a moment "You seem so different though."

"Again, knighthood does it to you."

"No enough with the jokes, I'm serious. I've known you since we were little kids Adam but at this point it's kind of hard to recognize you. Your face, it's changed a little bit and I don't need to be able to sense Ki to know that your power is leagues beyond what it was the last time we saw each other, but that's not it. It's your attitude, you seem so much more confident, sure of yourself, and you don't have any more doubt."

"I've been through a lot over the past few weeks, met a couple of my idols from various different cartoons, and a bunch of other stuff. But before any of that there's something that you should know… I told Bridgette the truth about Mal."

"...Oh. I figured you would. Did you tell anyone else?"

"Yeah, a few people before her. I told Gwen, DJ and Noah, and I gave them all Dragon Fangs too."

"Uh huh. And what did they say?"

"They were supportive."

"I figured as much."

"Which brings me to the most important thing. I want to tell Devin and Carrie about Mal, or rather at least Devin. Carrie is a maybe. Devin already knows about ⅓ of the story, he's known all this time that I've been hiding something yet he's remained patient and respected my privacy and my trust in people. He's been that way for almost 6 years, and he's one of the reasons I was able to trust people again. Mike, I owe this to him at the very least."

"Adam, I never wanted you to take on a burden as heavy as this. Keeping everything that's been happening with Mal a secret was your idea, I mean I didn't want people to know but you were the one who swore yourself to secrecy of your own free will. If you want to tell Devin the truth about Mal then you've earned the right."

"Thank you. And you know, Mal appeared to me a couple of times in my mind over the past few weeks."

"...And?"

"Well the first one was kind of a prelude to Metallum so I didn't think that much into it and it wasn't that important."

"Uh huh."

"Then when I was fighting Vilgax, long story that I'll get into later, he appeared before me and snapped me out of my funk and hit me with some kind of fire powers." he materialized a flame in his hand "Whatever he did to me I can control fire now too, and before he disappeared he told me to keep an eye out for some kind of shadow or something."

"What about the third one?"

"That was in a dream last night, he was giving me another warning about the shadow, but this time he was different."

"How so?"

"All of the other times he's appeared from when he killed my parents to me meeting him in that dream about Metallum, he's been accompanied by this disturbing shadowy silhouette figure that always spoke for him, but this time he was on his own and he spoke for himself. He looked like he was benevolent, protective and concerned, remorseful even. He said to me that the shadow thing had a grip on him, and the longer it he did the more powerful this thing would get. And then we talked a little bit and then he disappeared."

"...And what do you think about that?"

"What I think? What I think is that there's a lot of stuff about the Cosmic Elementals that Aurora didn't tell us before, and now you and I are gonna go and find out what. Let's grab Bridgette and the others and go do some good old fashioned interrogation." he grabbed Mike by the shoulder and the two of them blitzed away.

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Aurora looked up and found Adam, Mike, Bridgette, Cody and Alejandro standing in front of her, the former equipped with all of his armor, as well as Ascalon strapped onto his back like Shatterstorm had once been "That was sooner than I had expected."

"You've never known me to be very lax." Adam pointed out dryly "Alright Aurora enough screwing around, what's the deal with the shadow figure that's been with Mal? Where did this thing come from, what are you not telling us?"

"...I suppose you should know. Let's just be quick about this, the Big Bang Theory is on in 10 minutes."

"Nice to see you have your priorities straight."

"Jokes aside, it is time I tell all of you." Aurora sat them down and began to recount the story that she had neglected to tell them before "Adam, when we first met I had told you that there were six Cosmic Elementals: Tatsumaki of the Wind and Kaminari of the Lightning, the two who fused into Tempestatis of the Hurricane, as well as Kaiyo of Water, Terrae of Earth who later became known as M'Baku, Urere of flame, and of course you've already met in person and fought against Metallum of Metal. That's what is known to most who actually are aware of the existence of the Cosmic Elementals. However, what very few of those people are actually aware of is that there were a total of eight. The other two did not participate in the Cosmic War as the other six did, but they were still known to be the two most powerful of them all, potentially surpassing even Metallum after he stole the other Cosmic Lacrimas from Terrae and Urere. The other two Cosmic Elementals were known as Illuminare and Tenebris, the Cosmic Elementals of Light and Darkness."

"So why didn't they take part in the war?" asked Bridgette.

"Because they were unsure of how the evolution or mortals would turn out in the end. As the war between their fellow Cosmic Elementals raged on and ravaged the universe, they had retreated into the shadows to observe how the mortals would react. They had wondered if the mortals of the lower realms of each universe were creatures that were truly deserving of the protection of the gods. I have observed the dealings than I would care to count. Mortals thrive, they quarrel, they perish, and they repeat this same cycle time and time again on an endless loop. At that time it seemed to me that for them to keep doing this would be the height of futility. I had even gone so far as to wonder what sense there was in protecting such flawed beings when they would consistently repeat the same tragic mistakes time and time again without showing any signs of developing, and ponder if it were to be more merciful on our part to put an end to such hopeless cycles once and for all. However, after the fated battle between Metallum and Tempestatis had at last come to a close and the mortals began to rebuild the remains of their civilizations across the universe, that was when Metallum appeared and offered a solution to their dilemma. They would pool their power into one point and create a warrior that was mixed of both light and darkness, intended to follow the spirit of Tempestatis for as long as he reincarnated through over one hundred lifetimes in over one hundred different races. However, Metallum betrayed them both and stole one Cosmic Lacrima from each of them, and with the, both at his disposal he used his own enhanced cosmic power and malicious influence to shift the balance of this being closer to the dark side and then transferred the spirit of this shadow being into Mike's body and mind, where it latched onto the personality with the most potential for darkness."

Adam shared a look with Mike as they both quickly caught on "You mean Mal."

"Yes."

"So then…" Mike's voice was soft "Mal was never really evil after all."

"No. Metallum is the driving force behind it, as is the shadow that controls the darkness manipulating Mal at the moment. Defeating Metallum is only the first step, after that you must slay the shadow that currently binds Mal." this was followed by a long

"...Which one is worse?" Adam was the first one to speak after a few moments "Is this shadow thing more powerful than Metallum is right now?"

"That is hard to say, however at the moment Metallum is the greater threat and so he will have to be dealt with first. After all, now he has the powers of Metal, Earth, Fire, Light and Darkness at his disposal. If he is not stopped them all of existence will fall by his hand."

"Uh huh. So where do we start?"

"Before anything else, there is one last piece of armor for your quest to knighthood that must be acquired in another one of the 10 dimensions that you have yet to journey to. I believe that you will find this one quite interesting. Also, if all goes well then Mike will awaken the Cosmic power within his own body, making him a valuable asset in the inevitable battle that has yet to come."

"So what exactly are we looking for anyway?"

"Before I tell you that, there is something that you must know about the world to which you will be travelling. In this world, dragons once thrived, but now they are all but extinct. In one place specifically there is a graveyard for dragons who had once fought in a great war against a horrible monster now lay in eternal slumber. This dragon's name is… Acnologia."

"So you mean-"

"Yes, you will be travelling to Earth Land, or more specifically Fiore, home of Fairy Tail."

"...And just like that I think my life is complete, so we're fighting Acnologia?"

"No, but the threat you will be facing is far greater. Previous kings investigated the graveyard of dragons time and time again, and they chose to erect the Domus Flau on the mountain above it in order to create the sacrifice. 100 years ago, a particular staff had been discovered in the deepest depths of the tomb of the dragons."

"So what then, did this thing belong to one of the dragons?"

"I don't know the specifics but it more than likely belonged to a person. Over the years this staff has absorbed the residual sorrow and anger that lingered in the tomb, so much so in fact that it took on a new crystalline form. This staff is known as the Dragon Cry, and it is said to hold in it enough magic power to eradicate an entire continent, but the truth is that in the wrong hands it could destroy and entire world. There is one who seeks to take the staff by force and use it for his own nefarious purposes, and he is not stopped then both that world and all of the 10 dimensions will fall. Which is why I shall be accompanying you to that dimension personally."

"Good to know." Adam turned to face the others "You guys ready for another hell of a wild ride?"

"That we are." Alejandro strapped on a pair of black gloves "Just try to be as reckless as you were before."

"Hey when have you ever known me to be reckless? Don't answer that, but anyway with any luck we'll be kicking ass by sundown."

"I have no doubt in my mind that you will." Aurora opened a pink colored portal with a have of her hand "When you reach that dimension, we must meet with my informant. He will give us more details on how to locate the Dragon Cry."

"Gotcha. Alright then, let's go off one one hell of an adventure!" and with that, he jumped straight into the portal, with all of the others right behind him.

 **A/N:**

 **And with this chapter, Mike makes his return to the story. I didn't mean to push him aside as much as I did but I wanted to give Adam, Alejandro, Cody and Bridgette more development both in character and in terms of power. Plus I gave him Fire powers like Natsu, Light powers like Light powers like Sting/ Alejandro, and even Shadow powers like Rogue.**

 **Let me just be clear that Mike/ Mal's Light abilities are based on Cosmic Lacrima as a basis, whereas Alejandro's are based on pure energy manipulation, or Chi or Ki (like in DBZ) or Spirit Energy (like in Bleach/ Yu Yu Hakusho) or whatever you wanna call it. The point is that they're different and that naming the techniques after spells from Fairy Tail is just for fun.**

 **For the most part, aside from the revelation of there being two more Cosmic Elementals, this was meant to be a bit of a breather chapter. I figured that with all of the craziness and action over the course of the last few original chapters (Lord Dregg & the Newtralizer, preparing for Metallum invading Earth, battling Vilgax and the Esoterica with Adam awakening his initial (self-dubbed) Cosmic Knight form for the first time, facing Long and KePa, battling against Metallum in the Cosmic Ocean of Varuna, and finally the final showdown with Vilgax, Diagon and the Esoterica), it was time to give my main characters some time to finally cool off at least for a little while, hence why this chapter was shorter than the rest.**

 **I included Winston from Ben 10 in this chapter because I always had a soft spot for his character, and I thought it would be nice to see him and Adam have a little heart to heart about what he's going to do now that he's lost an arm and his days as a knight were over before they even started.**

 **Just so you know, the next chapter will be a crossover with an anime instead of just a cartoon, and it will be one that I can imagine a lot of people will be happy that I'm including.**

 **Hey by the way, I've been brainstorming ideas for the third story of my Total Drama trilogy and going over a bunch of Total Drama All Stars fics like this one on Deviantart by JasperPie. That fic involves a Noah x Dawn shipping, but since I'm already pairing Noah and Emma I came up with another idea: What do you guys think of the idea of a Brick x Dawn shipping? Think about it, both really good characters that people love but are seriously underrated. One of them has already appeared, and I'm thinking the other one will appear later on in this story.**

 **Just a heads up, this will be my last update until after Thanksgiving, and after Thanksgiving passes I plan to do my monthly update of my Naruto story, so until next time and happy Thanksgiving.**


	12. Dragon Cry: Part I

**(Takes place between during chapters 20-21 of the Ridonculous Underdogs)**

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" _Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the Wind and Lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take both their powers for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallium was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see that Metallum would fall for his betrayal. However, that is not the whole story. What very few are aware of is that there are two other Cosmic Elementals who refused to take part in the war, two who refused to take sides because they were unsure of how the evolution or mortals would turn out in the end. These two were known as Illuminare and Tenebris, the Cosmic Elementals of Light and Darkness. As the war between their fellow Cosmic Elementals raged on and ravaged the universe, they had retreated into the shadows to observe how the mortals would react. They had wondered if the mortals of the lower realms of each universe were creatures that were truly deserving of the protection of the gods. I have observed the dealings than I would care to count. Mortals thrive, they quarrel, they perish, and they repeat this same cycle time and time again on an endless loop. At that time it seemed to me that for them to keep doing this would be the height of futility. I had even gone so far as to wonder what sense there was in protecting such flawed beings when they would consistently repeat the same tragic mistakes time and time again without showing any signs of developing, and ponder if it were to be more merciful on our part to put an end to such hopeless cycles once and for all. However, after the fated battle between Metallum and Tempestatis had at last come to a close and the mortals began to rebuild the remains of their civilizations across the universe, that was when Metallum appeared and offered a solution to their dilemma. They would pool their power into one point and create a warrior that was mixed of both light and darkness, intended to follow the spirit of Tempestatis for as long as he reincarnated through over one hundred lifetimes in over one hundred different races. Now the mission of the Warrior of the Hurricane has become much more grave, and if both Metallum and his warrior of darkness are not slain then the legacy of the Cosmic Elementals will be forever tarnished and lost to the memory of time."_

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Adam's eyes snapped open as he looked around at the forest scenery surrounding him and the others, the portal closing behind them "So this is…"

"Correct, this is Tenrou Island." Aurora confirmed his suspicions "My informant lies deeper within the woods, when you meet him he will tell you what you need to know about the Dragon Cry."

"Well alright then, just tell us where to go and we'll take it from there."

"I'm afraid that there is no we, this is a journey that only you and Mike may take. This informant of mine is… special, and as a result only you may survive close contact with him. Not even I will be able to endure such a thing."

"So the whole Cosmic Elemental reincarnation thing makes me immune to his killing thing or whatever?"

"Yes, but Mike will only be protected by the effects of this." Aurora handed him a ring "This is a Ring of Obice (Latin for Barrier), created by the first Master of the Mystic Arts. Only with this will you be able to endure his curse."

Mike took the Ring of Obice from her and put it on "So where do we go from here, just wander through the forest until we find him?"

"That is correct, and now I wish you all the best of luck."

"You mean you're not coming with us?" asked Adam.

"I did say that I had the Big Bang theory recorded, and I have other arrangements to make after that. I wish you all the best of luck and await your return once the Dragon Cry is in your possession." and then she disappeared through a portal.

"Again with the priorities. Alright come on Mike, let's go." and so Adam nonchalantly walked off.

"Yeah, right behind you." and so Mike followed after him.

Cody, now alone with Bridgette and Alejandro, frowned in thought "I wonder…"

"What's the matter?" asked Bridgette.

"This informant that Aurora was talking about, I think I might have an idea of who it might be but…"

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Adam and Mike were wandering through the forest, the former quickly getting tired of the latter acting incredibly melancholy "Alright enough acting like Mordecai from Regular Show when he gets dumped, what's got you acting like such a goddamn p***y?"

Mike stared at Adam long and hard, then let out a sigh "Adam you and I have been best friends for almost our entire lives and there's something that I still don't get about you, how the heck do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"For as long as I've known you you've always put others before yourself, you've done things for other people that would drive most people insane all for the sake of helping others. You've always been so gentle and compassionate, yet so blunt and fearless, strong willed and determined, yet you've never thrown the first punch, never started a fight even if you were in a good number of them, and even when you do fight it's always for the sake of others and not for yourself, and that was before you got these crazy powers that make you into some kind of superhero. Aurora says that I'm supposed to have these anime and/ or comic book levels of crazy powers, but you know as well as I do that I don't have that in me. It's just not a part of who I am like it is with you, I can't be what you are" this caused Adam to stop in his tracks, his bangs covering his eyes.

"Mike, you and I have been friends since we were little kids. The fact that you would say something like that…" Adam's expression turned comically enraged "It makes me realize that you're even more r*****ed than Devin and Lindsay combined! It's like someone tried to make the guys from Clockwork Orange binge watch Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber music videos! No that's not stupid, that's just twisted!"

"Wh-What are you-"

Adam took a deep breath to calm himself down "Oh shit, man it must be all the Ethernano in the air. Man that stuff really messes with your head. Anyway to answer your question…" his bangs covered his eyes once again "I'm not perfect Mike , I've done a few things over the years that I'm not proud of and I never will be. When I fought Mal for the first time almost 5 years ago I tried to force myself to believe that I was fighting him just to save you, but deep down somewhere inside of me part of me was urging me on to finish the job for what he did to me." he pulled up his shirt, revealing his scars "Not just for these, but for what he did to my mom and my dad. I think Carlos saw that in me and tried to cleanse me of my hatred in any way that he could. When I first signed up to be on Total Drama so that I could help Cody win Carlos was pretty sick back then, and the day before I left he gave me something really important." he pulled out something very familiar.

Mike was quick to recognize it "That's like the necklace Alejandro wears all the time."

"It's a family thing, they each get a bull headed necklace when they turn 16. It's been a tradition in their family for generations. I didn't realize it at the time but he knew that that would probably be the last time that I would see him while he was alive and he wanted me to keep this as a sort of memento of him. It definitely worked, even while I was at war with Alejandro throughout the course of Total Drama World Tour I didn't try to get them to vote him off because I held too much respect for Carlos. Even when we fought back in Area 51 I didn't try to hurt him too badly because of that and I only fought when he threw the first punch. Now I realize that I wasn't just fighting him because of what he did to Duncan and Courtney, and to Gwen and Cody by extension, it was because of how he was disrespecting Carlos' teachings and everything that he believed in. I felt like I couldn't let that go unanswered."

"But you just were doing it to protect Carlos' teachings and try to snap Alejandro out of that mindset, that couldn't be helped."

"Maybe not, but now that Alejandro is one of the few people that I can trust with this secret I still feel kind of guilty about that."

"I guess. Plus there is those few times with the kangaroo back when you were in Australia."

"Hey that's an exception, that thing started!" he sounded indignant "Anyway things died down for awhile after that, at least until we hit Africa and all of that shit went down."

"You mean with Bridgette almost falling to her death."

"I was gonna say with Cody and the others being kidnapped by M'Baku or Terrae as we now know him, truth be told I probably never would've been able to beat him if it wasn't for Chef and I wouldn't have been able to take him down if I didn't have what I was fighting for."

"Not to mention that after that you saved her life."

"I never would've been able to if it wasn't for DJ. Anyway to answer your question Mike, I don't fight just for the sake of it. Training and working out all the time is honestly more of a stress relief thing or a hobby of some kind, but my real strength comes from my burning desire to protect the people that I care about. I don't see myself as a hero or a savior or anything because I don't think of myself as worthy of titles like that. I don't see myself as a fighter and I'm more than just a warrior, what I want to think of myself as is a protector. I just want to protect them and make sure no pain befalls them, no matter how much pain may befall me. That's who I am and that's what I want to do, make sure that nobody has to go through the same pain that I did because of Mal. But if there's one thing I've learned from being on Total Drama, it's that whatever burden you carry it's not one that you have to carry on your own. And thanks to spending all that time with Sir George I think I finally get it now. I'm a knight that wants to protect his kingdom and its people, and those that he holds dear. And thanks to getting the chance to fight Vilgax I can finally say this with confidence." he took another deep breath and spoke with pride "All of that stuff that I said about being scared of letting vengeance consume me, of failing to save my friend, of letting down the people that I care about. SCREW ALL OF THAT!" his Cosmic Knight form flared into life as he unleashed a mighty roar, sending a combined blast of wind, lightning and fire to the heavens above them "I'm not gonna sit around feeling sorry for myself any longer, Carlos taught me better than that! All of them did! No more doubting myself, no more fearing the what ifs of the choices that I make, no more living in fear and self pity! From now on it's non stop fighting and protecting until I know that the people I love are safe! I'm gonna keep working even harder than ever before, I'm gonna get so much stronger even the gods themselves will tremble, and when I do Metallum and whatever else is out there is going down! YOU HEAR ME?! I AM THE COSMIC KNIGHT!"

Mike watched him from afar, having backed away during his speech and tirade and smiled slightly "Looks like the super overconfident Adam that we all know and love is finally back for good."

"You're damn right he is, and he's here to stay. As for your question, don't think so much into that crap. I don't think about it, I just beat the shit out of anyone who tries to hurt any of my friends. It's that simple."

"It would appear that Aurora had exaggerated." that was when a figure appeared before the two of them, revealed to be a young man wearing a high-collared black and tan robe with gold trim, along with a large, flowing white toga draped around his torso. He has short black hair, dark eyes, and abnormally sharp canines "She said that you held doubts within your heart but from what I sense you have no doubts."

"Oh my damn… Zeref."

"Please allow our business to be short, I would rather not remain in this forest for much longer than I have to." this was followed by his curse killing all of the life within several feet of him, the exceptions being Adam and Mike "This is the fate of every living thing that I encounter, they all meet death far too soon. Still though, the fact that you two are in my presence yet still alive is quite impressive."

"You can thank Aurora for that."

"Of course, now as for why you are here I imagine it involves the staff that is referred to as the Dragon Cry."

"I already know what there is to know, I saw the movie."

"What?"

"Huh? Anyway what is it that you and her want us to do?"

"If you are aware of the events that have yet to transpire then you should be aware that Natsu will find a way to force his way into the situation, what he fails to realize is that if the full power of the Dragon Cry is unleashed then this entire world will succumb to utter carnage."

"So what do we do first?"

"Journey to the capital city of Crocus with your comrades and discuss the situation with his majesty, as you do you shall meet with Natsu and together you must destroy the Dragon Cry before the carnage can be unleashed. Also, do not inform him of your meeting with me or you will lose his trust."

"Well that goes without saying. Anyway I gotcha. Well see ya, come on Mike let's go." and so he walked off in the direction in which he came, with Mike following quietly behind him without uttering a word.

Zeref watched the two of them go and gave a small smile ' _I suppose there is more than one who is capable of stopping me.'_

"I'm not gonna kill you He Who Has Way Too Big of a Fanbase, just because I can do something doesn't mean that I should. That job belongs to someone else."

' _So it does. The only question is, when will he at last gain the strength to do so? I suppose only time will tell._

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At the same time, with our favorite Dragon Slayer and his pet flying talking cat that might very well be on crack just like everyone else in the world of Fairy Tail…

"HELP ME!" Happy came running up the pathway freaking out "Natsu you've gotta help me, it's coming and it's gonna eat me alive!"

"What the hell is-" Natsu looked back and found a cute looking dog running towards them "Oh, that."

"That dog's looking at me like I'm gonna be turned into its lunch, it's totally scaring the crap out of me!"

"Yeah hold that thought." Natsu looked down at the dog and shot him it a dirty look, scaring it into running away.

"Oh wow thanks a bunch old buddy."

"Hey keeping you off of the menu is what I do." they high fived.

"So what's next for our year long training trip?"

"I… got absolutely no idea." cue the stomach growling "And now I'm hungry."

"I'm so hungry I see fish everywhere I look. Man even those guys that give that super cute but still super cut throat vibe!"

"What guys?" Natsu looked over and rose an eyebrow "Wow."

Sure enough, it was Adam walking towards him literally lighting up the skies with confidence thanks to his lightning powers, with Cody, Mike, Bridgette and Alejandro trailing not too far behind him "Looks like there's a storm coming."

"What's this guy's deal? He's crazier than Erza."

"First of all, no one is crazier than her. Second of all, my schtick as you failed to refer to it is f*cking with people's heads just to see how they react. You got a problem with that?"

"So you just screw with people? I approve, name's Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail."

"Call me Adam of Ocean Falls, the others back there are my younger brother Cody, my mentor's younger brother Alejandro, my girlfriend Bridgette and my closest friend Mike."

"Got your own team then huh?" Natsu's face fell "Yeah that brings back some memories of the good times."

"You say that like someone died- Oh."

"They're not dead, I just… I lost someone that meant the world to me to a really powerful evil dragon, I left Fairy Tail to train for a year so that I could take him down. What happened that day to Igneel, I don't wanna let that happen ever again." the two of them started walking down the path, leaving Happy, Mike and the others behind looking rather dumbstruck "And that was about three months ago."

"...I had the same thing happen to me too."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I lost my parents when I was only 8 and my mentor died in battle almost 2 years ago. I just never knew about it until recently, he was trying to protect me."

"Damn, that's rough. What was he like?"

"As close to perfect as humans can come."

"...That's super cheesy."

"Bite me lizard boy."

"Hey don't diss a Dragon Slayer you ass!" he paused, then let out a laugh "Well you're alright in my book dude."

"You too, so you've been training for a few months now?"

"Yeah, I've gotta get way stronger before I can face anyone back at Fairy Tail again so that I can protect all of them." then he lit up "So what kind of magic do you guys use?"

"Well… that's kind of complicated. To put it in simple terms we use a few different types of magic. I use wind and lightning magic and I recently learned fire magic, Cody uses a special type of Light magic, Bridgette uses water and ice Demon Slayer magic and Alejandro uses another type of light magic called Crimson. As for Mike, the main reason why we're here is to help him awaken his power."

"What he never learned how to use it before now?"

"...Okay I'm gonna level with you, would you believe me if I told you that me and my friends are from another world? I know it sounds insane but-"

"I believe it, I've actually been to another world called Edolas. Are you guys from there or something?"

"Not exactly. See we're not just from another world, we're from another dimension. There are 10 and I'm pretty sure that this is the ninth."

"Huh. So there are nine other dimensions of asses that I could kick."

"If that's the way that you wanna look at it then I say go for it."

"Alright! So what are you guys gonna do in this world anyway?"

"Well first we've gotta head to the capital city of Crocus, we have some important business to discuss about with the king."

"Oh yeah Crocus, haven't been there since the Grand Magic Games. Kicking ass, fighting dragons, time travel stuff that made my brain hurt, good times."

"I know. So you wanna come with us? You'd be a huge help?"

"Will I get a good fight out of it and some good training?"

"Yes, maybe and we can spar later."

"Works for me, to Crocus!" he took off in some random direction.

"Wrong way."

"I knew that!"

"No you didn't."

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Things were calm and peaceful with the current strongest guild in Fiore, Sabertooth, who had claimed this title once again after Fairy Tail had disbanded.

Sting on the other hand, was currently bored out of his freaking mind "I'm so… freaking… BORED!"

"Maybe you should try cracking open a book." Rogue didn't bother looking up from the book that he was reading "Power isn't everything Sting, you have to have the intelligence to use that power properly."

Frosch nodded eagerly "I think so too."

"See?"

Sting suddenly nearly lost his shit "What hell man, I didn't even know that you knew how to read!"

"Probably because you don't."

"Is that a picture book about cats?" asked Lector.

"It's called furthering my education, you should learn how to be more supportive instead of just being Sting's hype man all the time."

Frosch nodded "I think so too."

"Still though, things haven't exactly been interesting since the events of the war with Tartaros a few months back and that ended with Fairy Tail getting broken up like the beatles."

"You mean that one music guild from like 50 years ago?" asked Sting.

"Exactly."

"Yeah well you know what, screw it." Sting snatched something off of the request board next to their table "I say we go on a job."

"Let me see that." Rogue snatched it from him and checked out the contents "Well this does look interesting."

"What is it?"

"Looks like a long journey but it does have a large reward and who knows, it might be a good training trip like Natsu is supposed to be on."

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By now Adam and the others, Natsu and Happy included, had begun their meeting with the king of Fiore Toma, as well as his daughter princess Hisui, and he was glancing at Natsu every now and then "So before we get down to business I'm just gonna go ahead and assume that because of Fairy Tail not being available for… certain circumstances, you contacted Aurora and as a result she sent the rest of us here to fix the situation. Does that sound about right?"

Toma nodded "Indeed young one, I have called upon the assistance of Lady Aurora many times and I am greatly in her debt for all that she has done."

"That makes six of us. So anyway I'm guessing that this has something to do with the Dragon's Tomb hidden beneath the colosseum that you call the Domus Flau, correct?"

"Indeed, I recall that Natsu here and a small number of his fellow members of Fairy Tail stumbled across it during the Grand Magic Games years ago and I assume that Lady Aurora has informed you of the location. Such a place is quite sacred and frightening, where those brave dragons who had taken part in the war against the monstrous beast that is Acnologia had lost their lives to the creature now lay in eternal slumber. My ancestors investigated this location many times, they chose to erect the colosseum on the mountain above it to commemorate them and their sacrifice. However one hundred years ago a particular staff had been discovered in the deepest depths of the dragon's tomb."

"So what does that mean then, you think this staff was used by one of the dragons as a weapon of some sort?"

"More than likely it belonged to an actual human."

"Or maybe Acnologia before he turned into a dragon."

"That possibility does exist. Over the course of the years this staff has absorbed the residual sorrow and anger that lingered in the tomb from the spirits of those deceased dragons, so much so in fact that it took on a new crystalline form and become the staff that we have come to know as the Dragon Cry and it holds enough magic power to eradicate an entire continent."

"But it didn't become a problem until someone who's even more of a jackass than Natsu went and stole it thinking he could somehow harness its power?"

"That happened several days ago, it was taken by Zash Caine, a former minister of state of our fair kingdom. Zash is a wicked and cruel man and a follow of the dark arts, he once even attempted to overthrow me and my family."

"Yeah I heard a little bit about that, Aurora gave me a few details on this guy during the journey to this world."

"She was the one who stopped him in his tracks, one of the many debts I owe her. However before Zash could be made to stand trial his band mercenaries helped him to escape Fiore entirely."

"And that's just the beginning of how evil this bastard is I'm guessing."

Hisui nodded "That does not begin to cover the wicked deeds that he has committed, once he was granted asylum by the kingdom of Stella he slaughtered all of his men in the most brutal way imaginable simply to signal his newfound devotion to Stella."

"Killing his own guys just to prove a point, evil but not too bright. Sounds kind of familiar at this point."

Toma nodded "Indeed, and after he had unleashed a campaign of incriminating violence and blackmail he managed to rise up through the ranks in that kingdom as well."

"Sounds like whoever offs this scumsucker would be doing this world a favor."

"And now I'm afraid that this fiend controls the destructive power of the Dragon Cry, if he unleashes that power then countless innocents not just in this land but all across this entire world will lose their lives."

"And you want us to take it back from him before that happens."

"Precisely."

"Well you don't have to worry your majesty, not with us on the job."

"You have my thanks."

"But speaking of the Domus Flau I do have one request, I want you to let me and Natsu use it in a one on one match no holds barred." this was met with looks of disbelief from both Bridgette and Mike along with facepalming from Cody and Alejandro "How about it Salamander, you up for it?"

"You bet your ass I am!" Natsu bolted to his feet and started breathing fire "I'm totally fired up now!"

"So, what do you say."

"I know very well what your intentions are young man." the king shot him a knowing smile "I say fight to your heart's content."

"Thanks. So let's do it."

Bridgette and the others sharted a look ' _I'm starting to wonder if Adam's newfound confidence is actually a good thing or not.'_

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It wasn't long before the group had relocated to the Domus Flau colosseum, all but two of them having taken to the stands.

Adam stood with Natsu in the center of the ring, Ascalon still strapped onto his back with a smirk plastered across his face "You know you probably know that I've never been good at holding back in a fight so chances are you're gonna die in a few minutes."

"Oh now I'm totally fired up, you're going down you cocky son of a bitch." but despite the tough talk, Natsu was rather nervous ' _Maybe this wasn't the best idea, this guy looks like he's only a little bit older than but I get the feeling he might be on the same level as Gildarts.'_

"I know that constipated thinking look, you're thinking that I'm too good for you and I'm gonna kick your ass to kingdom come right?"

"What are you kidding? If anything you should be scared of me, I'm gonna kick your ass all the way to Edolas and I won't let up until I hear you screaming mercy."

"Fine then, mercy."

"Don't pull that Gildarts bullshit on me, I haven't even thrown a punch at you yet!" his hands were coated in flames "I'm coming for you Adam, I'm gonna earn that mercy from you one way or another and I can't wait to show you how!"

"Hey don't get me wrong Natsu, fighting you is an honor that I've been dreaming of for as long as I can remember." Adam drew Ascalon from its sheath "But on the other hand I also have this bad boy that I've been wanting to test out in a real fight, so show me what you've got!"

"As if you had to ask! **FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"** in an instant Natsu let a flame covered fist fly, colliding with the blade of Ascalon and sending out a massive shockwave from the collision.

When the smoke cleared, it was revealed that Adam had stopped Natsu's attack without breaking a sweat "Now it's my turn, this is one that I've been waiting to try out." he dealt Natsu a sharp spin kick to the torso, sending him skidding backwards "You ready for a storm? **Lightning Beast Chase!"** he summoned what looked like a dragon made of pure lightning from a dark cloud looming over the colosseum summoned by Ascalon.

" **Fire Dragon's IRON FIST!"** Natsu fired off another fire fist to cancel out the attack, only to see another lightning dragon following the first one "Dammit you delayed one of them to try and psyche me out?"

"Nope." Adam blitzed behind Natsu and dealt him a barrage of sharp slashes all across his body, covering him in numerous cuts "Now for number two!"

"Same here! **FIRE DRAGON'S TALON!"** Natsu unleashed a fire enhanced kick at blinding speeds.

" **Lightning King Iron Hammer!"** Adam thrusted his sword forward and unleashed a blast of lightning from the blade, the blast blowing Natsu clear through the walls of the Domus Flau and down the side of the mountain "You done yet? I hope not, I have a crap load more techniques that I wanna try out."

"NOT EVEN F*CKING CLOSE! THERE'S A HELL OF A LOT MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM! **FIRE DRAGON'S SWORD HORN!"** sure enough, Natsu burst upwards high into the air and charged downwards towards the ground like a meteorite crashing down to the earth, and he attempted to deal Adam a skull shattering headbutt.

"Oh this is gonna be good! **HYPER TORNADO!"** with his body rotating so hard and fast he became a mini tornado, Adam shot towards Natsu in mid air and the two collided in brain shattering headbuts, the force of the collision shattering the walls of the Domus Flau and nearly causing the mountain itself to collapse.

When the smoke cleared, Natsu was left in a massive crater in the middle of the colosseum, or rather what was left of it, but he almost immediately rebounded, visibly injured but still with a smile on his face "Okay I've gotta give it to you dude, you're insanely strong."

"So are you, but that's just what makes this that much more exciting to me."

"My point exactly! **FIRE DRAGON'S… ROAR!"** he unleashed the signature technique of a Dragon Slayer and roared out a massive blast of fire, melting the shattered remains of the walls of the colosseum.

"Yeah this is one of the best days of my life, you really are amazing Natsu but that's just another reason why I'm not gonna lose to you. **THUNDERCLAP STRIKE!"** Adam thrusted Ascalon through the Fire Dragon's Roar and pierced Natsu square in the chest as he unleashed a power blast of lightning, the force carving a trench in the ground all the way down the side of the mountain as well as resulting in a massive explosion "You ready to go all out? I know you're still holding back, come on and show me what a true Dragon Slayer can do."

"You wanna see me go all out?! WELL FINE! **Change Mode: LIGHTNING FLAME DRAGON!"** the smoke cleared away to reveal Natsu, his body radiating an incredible amount of both fire and lightning, and almost immediately, Natsu charged towards Adam at blinding levels of speed " **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus: EXPLODING LIGHTNING BLADE!"** he unleashed a massive blast of fire and lightning, engulfing Adam in a fire covered explosion that melted the remains of the colosseum even further. After the attack finally subsided into smoke, Natsu fell to one knee, panting heavily "Dammit this guy is insane, I didn't think I would still have this far to go. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised, it's not like I ever thought trying to surpass Igneel would ever be easy."

"Surpassing the master is never an easy task, but it's not the goal that matters so much as the journey you take to get there." when the smoke cleared, Adam was revealed to have sustained minor burns with his shirt in ruins, revealing all of his numerous scars across his torso front and back "Well that sucks, this shirt was a gift from my girlfriend." he blew a kiss to Bridgette up in the stands "Still it must suck to know that your strongest attack didn't hurt you."

"So what?! I just blew you back and I burned your smart ass!" he started laughing like an arrogant jackass.

"So you did notice. Well I've gotta give it to you Salamander I'm impressed, it gave me a real feel for you good you are and how good I am right now in comparison. You might not have defeated me but I think that's enough for now."

"SHUT UP! There's no way in hell I'm gonna give up after all off that, I'm taking you down one way or another! What's the point of fighting and all of this training if I can't even do that?!"

"...Yeah I figured you were gonna say that, I just wanted to gauge your reactions. But I say you've earned it."

"Earned what?"

"A glimpse of what the power of a Cosmic Elemental is capable of."

 **Venit aveus ille**

 **O Messiah, O Messiah**

"You possess unrivaled determination to win and a passion for battle that burns as brightly as the fire that you control." Adam's body began radiating an electric blue colored aura as he began powering up.

 **Yuduliya ~ Vele**

 **Yuduliya ~ Vele**

 **Yuduliya ~ Vele**

 **Yuduliya Iyaliya**

"In order to walk the path of a warrior and eventually reach the end of that path, there's one thing that you need to truly understand. Let me show you what that is, only when you understand this will you ever stand a chance of surpassing Igneel or Acnologia!" and so with a furious strain filled roar, Adam was engulfed in a massive white light and a force that shook the entire city of Crocus itself.

 **Feel it drawing nearer**

 **An endless fear that takes you hold**

 **Feel it getting closer**

 **Revealing such an evil soul**

Natsu found himself frozen in place, struggling to force himself not to tremble at the sheer power he was feeling coming from Adam "No… No way… How is this… He's as strong as Gildarts!"

 **I can't surrender at the turning point of destiny**

 **Right now it's do or die; my life is on the line and I will not flee**

 **By my power**

 **Woah-woah, it's clear to me!**

 **My spirit grows and I will face this demon**

 **Woah-woah, with burning energy**

 **The day of fate has finally come!**

The light dissipated to reveal Adam standing there, his hair now a shade of electric blue with silver colored stripes running through it, his eyes the same shade of blue, lightning bolt marks appearing down his arms and legs with his body crackling with electricity "I really hope for your sake that you're ready Natsu, just remember that you asked for what's to come."

"You… YOU DON'T SCARE ME!" and so with a mighty roar full of determination, Natsu charged at Adam at full speed, packing as much power into one final Fire Dragon's Iron Fist as he was able to muster.

Adam took the attack in stride, but he didn't even budge, leaving Natsu almost entirely frozen in fear "So far I've shown you some of my lightning and wind attacks right? Well I did mention that I've got some newfound fire powers too, but I haven't even tried to use those yet." he held up one hand as a massive ball of fire generated above his palm "As a token of my respect and admiration for you and as thanks for not holding back, I'll do the same. But just remember, this won't hurt a bit. It's going to be painful as bloody hell. **Cosmic… SUN!"** he hit Natsu at point blank range with the Cosmic Sun, the ball of fire carrying him all the way to a nearby lake outside of the limits of the city "And as the finisher. **Cosmic Flare!"** he caused the Cosmic Sun to explode, evaporating the lake with the pure heat of the attack itself. With the attack at last subsiding, Adam turned up to the stands "Anyone wanna go sweep up his ashes?"

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Happy pretty much exploded from the stands "YOU JERK! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS! THIS WAS JUST SUPPOSED TO BE SOME STUPID SPAR, NOT A FIGHT TO THE DEATH!"

"Chill out cat, I seriously doubt he's dead. Any minute now he's about to intentionally burst up here with his Dragon Force blazing like a star shining through the night."

"Wh-What?"

"Natsu is a Dragon Slayer, and not only that he's a fire Dragon Slayer. I intentionally used a fire attack because I knew that he would absorb the flames, if I had killed him then I would've killed one of my idols. Besides, I never would've gotten a chance to fight someone using Dragon Force. Now the real fight is about to begin."

"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT IT IS!" Natsu suddenly burst back onto the scene, his body covered in dragon scales and radiating crimson colored flames "You really wanted to fight me in Dragon Force that badly? Well guess what asshole, now you've got your wish!" he burst forward at full speed, slugging Adam square in the face and kneed him in the jaw, blowing him clear off of the face of the mountain, with Natsu bolting right after him.

Happy watched with the others with tears still running down his face ' _Natsu…'_

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The battle raged on within the forests outside of Crocus.

"YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" Natsu charged at Adam at blinding levels of speed, dealing him an uppercut kick to the jaw "You wanted to see what a Dragon Slayer is capable of, and now you're gonna get it!"

Adam quickly rebounded after skidding back a great distance "Yeah that's it, now that's what I wanted to see! Show me what you've got Natsu!"

"FINE! **IGNEEL STYLE DRAGON SLAYER SECRET ART: HIDDEN FIRE FORM: CRIMSON LOTUS: PHOENIX SWORD!"** mustering every ounce of fire and power that he could muster, Natsu unleashed a devastating headbutt in the form of a streak of fire that took the form of what looked like a flaming sword, hitting Adam square in the torso and resulting in a massive explosion.

When the smoke cleared, it revealed Adam, now back in his normal form, floating in mid air and holding Natsu by the arm "You know we're both insanely lucky, if I hadn't used by Hyper Tornado at the very last second to counter the attack then we both would've ended up in pretty bad shape."

Slowly, Natsu opened his eyes and looked up at him "That was… all the magic power… that I had… and even after all this super intense training… someone like you comes along and blows me totally out of the water… like something straight from Gildarts… I guess that just proves… how far I still have to go… Not too shabby… for some dude from another world…"

"Hey fighting you was one of the greatest honors I could've ever dreamt of, to know that I can defeat someone as strong as you makes my own confidence soar to heights I never even knew existed."

"Well that makes one of us."

"Hey if I can surpass you then that means that you can do the same for me, it's a vicious cycle the two of us are stuck in but one I'm glad to be part of."

"Huh. I guess so. So now we've got this Dragon Cry thing to track down with this traitor guy and bring him in?"

"Either that or watch with snacks as the power destroys him because he's way too greedy for his own good."

"Where the hell is the Kingdom of Stella anyway?"

"From what Aurora tells me it's somewhere off of Ishgar, it's an island completely surrounded by cliffs and almost entirely cut off from the outside world."

"...Oh shit an island, that means that we're gonna have to take a boat."

"Not necessarily, I think I have a better idea.

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter was a crossover with Fairy Tail, or more specifically the second movie known as Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry. I was going to save this for the final story of this trilogy, but I just couldn't wait to add this in because I love Fairy Tail so damn much! You see a friend of mine spent months trying to get me to watch it and I feel like a total idiot for not listening to him and watching it sooner, so I dedicate this chapter to him. Despite that though, I like to think of this story as a tribute to the fact that the final season of Fairy Tail started airing on the 7th of October, and let me tell you now that shit is gonna get good! Oh, and the final season started airing in English dub on the 29th of October so it's only a few weeks behind the sub, so that's not too bad.**

 **Since this chapter was taking so long to write out I decided to cut it into two different parts made up of two different chapters, the first of which**

 **I was never really sure about when Dragon Cry takes place chronologically in the Fairy Tail timeline so I decided that it would take place during the year after the Tartaros arc so that Natsu and Happy would be the only ones from Fairy Tail that actually appear.**

 **I still feel bad about pushing Mike off to the side for as long as I did, so I added him into this chapter along with Adam, Bridgette, Cody and Alejandro, which is also meant to make up for the fact that unlike the original version, Gray, Lucy and Erza do not appear since, like I said, this is during the year after Tartaros, around the beginning of Natsu's year long training when they visit Mavis's grave.**

 **As for who Aurora's informant was, my original intention was going to be Mavis but after watching a few episodes of Fairy Tail Zero, I decided that Zeref would be a better fit for the position. The dynamics and dialogue between him and Adam is something that I just made up as I went along.**

 **The techniques that Adam used through Ascalon and otherwise are meant to replace the Dragon Slayer techniques are based on the wind and lightning techniques used by Gilthunder and Hower in the Seven Deadly Sins. Since this is actually the Fairy Tail universe and Adam and Alejandro not real Dragon Slayers I didn't want to start a big thing with Natsu over it. I would bother to have them explain it to Natsu about the whole thing with the Cosmic Elementals and being from another dimension but, as Gray put it, Natsu is an idiot so I doubt he would ever be able to understand any of that. Anyway long story short, I needed a substitute for Adam to use wind and lightning techniques, and so the Seven Deadly Sins was the most reasonable choice in my eyes. As for his new fire powers that he acquired in the battle with Vilgax, those were harder to find a substitute for. It turns out fire users with adaptable techniques aren't as common as wind and lightning users and the like (and when I say adaptable I mean techniques that could be used by multiple people with similar powers that I could adapt to my characters), so eventually I had to settle on techniques used by Yamamoto from Bleach when he used his Zanpakuto Ryujin Jakka (these will appear next chapter), along with techniques used by Escanor from the Seven Deadly Sins, mainly Cruel Sun and Pride Flare, renamed the Cosmic Sun and the Cosmic Flare. Oh, and as a little bonus, I added in some techniques used by Pikkon from DBZ that looked like they could be elemental powers, which include his Burning Shoot (Fire), Hyper Tornado (Wind), and his Thunder Flash Attack (Lightning).**


	13. Dragon Cry: Part II

**(Takes place between during chapters 20-21 of the Ridonculous Underdogs)**

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" _Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the Wind and Lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take both their powers for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallium was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see that Metallum would fall for his betrayal. However, that is not the whole story. What very few are aware of is that there are two other Cosmic Elementals who refused to take part in the war, two who refused to take sides because they were unsure of how the evolution or mortals would turn out in the end. These two were known as Illuminare and Tenebris, the Cosmic Elementals of Light and Darkness. As the war between their fellow Cosmic Elementals raged on and ravaged the universe, they had retreated into the shadows to observe how the mortals would react. They had wondered if the mortals of the lower realms of each universe were creatures that were truly deserving of the protection of the gods. I have observed the dealings than I would care to count. Mortals thrive, they quarrel, they perish, and they repeat this same cycle time and time again on an endless loop. At that time it seemed to me that for them to keep doing this would be the height of futility. I had even gone so far as to wonder what sense there was in protecting such flawed beings when they would consistently repeat the same tragic mistakes time and time again without showing any signs of developing, and ponder if it were to be more merciful on our part to put an end to such hopeless cycles once and for all. However, after the fated battle between Metallum and Tempestatis had at last come to a close and the mortals began to rebuild the remains of their civilizations across the universe, that was when Metallum appeared and offered a solution to their dilemma. They would pool their power into one point and create a warrior that was mixed of both light and darkness, intended to follow the spirit of Tempestatis for as long as he reincarnated through over one hundred lifetimes in over one hundred different races. Now the mission of the Warrior of the Hurricane has become much more grave, and if both Metallum and his warrior of darkness are not slain then the legacy of the Cosmic Elementals will be forever tarnished and lost to the memory of time."_

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The vastness of Earth Land, lush green forests as far as the eye could see, with waters so clear that one could see all the way to the bottom of the deepest ocean.

The latter of which was being travelled by Bridgette and a majority of the rest of the party on a small boat, and she marvelled "It's so beautiful, it's like it's almost…"

"Please do not say magical." Alejandro snapped her out of her thoughts "I believe that is far too easy."

"Well yeah, the whole point of this world is magic. So what do we know about this place?"

"From what the king informed us the economy of this Kingdom of Stella is largely based on the export of Stellanium, one of the hardest minerals this world has to offer. It is said that the more starlight it absorbs the greater the brilliance with which it glows."

"Sounds majestic, and kind of romantic too."

"Speaking of romance, I heard the night skies there are absolutely breathtaking." Cody let out a heavy sigh "I bet Gwen would love to sketch it."

"Well she's still in that race, but anyway Stella sounds like a wonderful place to me."

"I just hope their fish is yummy in my tummy." Happy looked around "Hey where are Natsu and the other guy?"

"You mean Adam? See for yourself." Mike pointed off of their boat.

As it turns out, Adam was swimming all the way alongside the boat, with Natsu trailing not far behind him "See I told you this was better than taking a boat!"

"Yeah no kidding, this is super kickass!" Natsu used his Fire Dragon Iron Fist Booster to propel himself forward "Plus it helps with the training, how do you come up with this stuff?"

"My mentor taught me that you can make anything into training if you look at it in the right sort of way."

"Huh. Sounds like a cool guy."

"He was the best. But now I'm trying to honor his legacy by helping one of his teachers by coming here, and the first step to that is finding the guy who stole the Dragon Cry."

"Which raises the question, how are we gonna find him?"

"Well I have one idea, I doubt Bridgette is gonna like it though."

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Later, in a bar in the city of Altair, within the Kingdom of Stella…

As it turns out, the plan involved Bridgette distracting every drunken moron in the bar on stage while dressed like a harem dancer, blushing heavily all the while at the attention that she was receiving "I can't believe I'm doing this, this is so embarrassing."

"Don't worry about it Bridgette you're doing great." Cody poked his head out from behind the curtain, clad in a bartender's uniform, his comment causing her to blush even further.

" _Come on you two, you have to stay focused."_ Alejandro was at the other end of the bar amongst the crowd, using a communication lacrima (what people use as cell phones in the world of Fairy Tail) to contact them while he was working as a waiter " _From what I have been able to gather thus far Zash is known to keep all of his stolen goods locked away inside of a tower of some sort and he unlocks it through use of a special magical ring that he wears. Keep in mind that he is a high ranking official, taking the ring by force while on a mission for the King of Fiore could spark an international conflict, which is the main reason why we've come here to his favorite bar to steal it from right off of his finger. You have to keep him distracted."_

"Yeah we know, and Bridgette that's where you come in."

Bridgette nodded "Yeah, I know."

" _Now come on, it's time to get this started."_

"Right, let's do this." and once the light shown on her, Bridgette started dancing once again, drawing cheers from the drunken crowd of morons who had no real lives, and she started making her way down the stage, earning her the admiration of Zash from where he was sitting at the bar nearby.

Seizing the chance using his lightning fast reflexes, Alejandro snatched Zash's ring right off of his finger, his voice low as he walked away "One copy please."

' _Right.'_ so using her ice powers, Bridgette created a duplicate right that she was able to slip right onto Zash's finger before he ever noticed anything, and continued drawing admirers in the drunken crowd, still blushing as she did so ' _Well at least they don't have video in this world or anything.'_

Behind the curtain, Cody was filming the entire thing on his phone ' _Oh Adam is so gonna love me for this.'_

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As this happened, Alejandro met up with Happy in another room backstage and handed him the ring "Alright my little amigo, the rest is up to you now."

"You got it, I'll get this ring over to Natsu and the others ASAP special delivery!" and so Happy took off out the window.

' _Good luck amigo.'_

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Frosch looked up and saw Happy flying down the street "Huh?"

"What's the matter Frosch?" asked Rogue.

"I think I saw Happy down there."

"Does that mean that Natsu is here too?" asked Sting "Word is nobody's seen him since the end of the whole thing with Tartaros."

"Yeah I think so too!"

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Happy arrived at the rendezvous point and found a piece of bamboo sticking up out of the ground like someone was using it to breathe "Hey Natsu you're not trying to hide like a ninja again are you?"

"NINJA!" Natsu burst out of the ground wearing his scarf like a ninja mask, with Adam just calmly lowering himself to the ground "You cannot see me, for I am one with the shadows!"

"Wrong." Adam dealt him a karate chop and sent him to the ground "We can see you for you are one with stupidity, and Mike will you stop playing along already."

Sure enough, Mike revealed himself from trying to blend into the wall using some sort of camouflage cloak "Well I did say that this plan wasn't going to work."

"No I said that only an idiot would think this plan would work when you suggested it with sarcasm, something that Natsu obviously doesn't get. Now come on guys let's go, we've got work to do." he grabbed both Natsu and Mike by the backs of their shirts, as well as Happy by his feet, and flew upwards using his wind powers until they were high above the tower, revealing the door to the tower being protected by two guards "So who wants to punch out the guards?"

"Oh I've got this-"

"It was a rhetorical question, I'm letting letting a human firecracker or Mike handle something that delicate. FORE!" he threw them high into the air, blitzed behind the guards and knocked them out with one chop to the neck for each of them, before Mike and Natsu both hit the ground with a thud.

"Ow."

"Don't be such a drama queen you pansy, you're a Dragon Slayer for f*ck's sake." Adam stuck the ring into the keyhole in the door, opening it and granting them access "And we're in, now let's get to it."

"Well don't waste time jackass, find the damn thing already!" Natsu started digging through random treasure trying to find the Dragon Cry.

"Yeah we could try and do it that way, or we could try going down the shady doorway at the end of this room that's radiating with a crap load of magic power." so to prove this point, Adam shoved open the door with one hand, revealing the golden light coming from the Dragon Cry in all of its magnificent glory, leaving the other three schmucks in awe "So this is it then, this is the Dragon Cry." he gripped the staff, only for it to suddenly send out an electrical surge that made him stagger back slightly "Okay that kind of hurt." this was followed by the entire room glowing with red markings along the walls "And that can't be good."

Mike was quick to realize what was going on "Oh man it's a trap, they must've rigged the staff to activate some sort of Magic Circle."

"Hey you've been reading up on your magic techniques, good for you man. But crack addict levels of insanity aside we really should get going before they start shooting at us." and so the four of them made a beeline out of the chamber.

"Enemies spotted, they broke into the vault! Don't let them get away!" this was when reinforcements showed up and started shooting at them.

"Well look at that, we're too late. Story of my f*cking life."

"Take your combat positions! Magic Auto Cannons! Ready! Aim! FIRE!" they started firing blasts of pure magic energy from automated cannons, narrowly missing them "Rifle squad fire when ready!" and they started literally shooting at them.

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Bridgette on the other hand found herself in a very uncomfortable situation, with Zash pressing her against the wall in a menacing way "Sorry sir but I think you may have the wrong idea."

"Oh I've got all kinds of ideas." Zash got even closer to her, leaving her even more disturbed by this.

"I mean I'm just not that kind of girl."

"Well then what kind of girl are you? Maybe you're the kind of girl that wants to be my kind of girl, how about that."

"Excuse me senor." that was when Alejandro stepped into the room "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave the dear senorita alone in peace."

"And if I don't?"

"SIR!" that was when a bunch of Stella knights barged in "I'm sorry sir but it's the staff, some wizard intruders broke into the vault and they stole it!"

"Is that so?"

' _Adam you idiota, your newfound confidence is going to get us all killed!'_ Alejandro quickly let a fist fly.

Zash caught it without even batting an eye "And who the hell do you think you are?"

"I could give an intimidating line about how I'm a simple bartender that could shatter your skull with one blow, but you may refer to me as Jaguar. **El Directo!"** Alejandro fired a crimson blast of energy from his right arm, blowing Zash clear through a wall "And smoking is forbidden to anyone backstage."

"Not a bad line." Cody poked his head into the room as the guards in front of him fell to the ground in an unconscious heap "Come on guys we'd better move before Adam ends up getting himself killed."

"Right." and so the three of them took off.

Almost immediately after they left, Zash burst up from the rubble, his eyes blazing with power and anger "No doubt about it, those three are aligned with Fiore. That little c*** Aurora must've sent in a few lapdogs.

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The chase continued along the streets of Altair.

Natsu was quick to lose patience "You know what screw it, let me hit these assholes with a fireball and that'll get rid of them."

"Hey lay off of them Natsu, these small fry aren't our enemies and they're just doing their jobs like a bunch of mindless sheep. Besides it's not like they hurt any of us." Adam looked over to where Happy got shot with an arrow "Scratch that."

"Oh that is IT, those assholes just made an enemy out of me! Nobody hurts my friends! You guys take the staff and go, I'll roast these pricks and catch up to you!" so Natsu whipped around and charged towards the soldiers "YOU ASSHOLES ARE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!" and to prove his destructive point he fired off a massive fire fist at them.

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Adam and Mike were still running, with Happy lagging behind a little bit "It's kind of weird, I feel like something is seriously off about this staff."

"Well what happened in the movie version of this whole thing?" asked Mike.

"I don't have a f*cking clue, I never actually saw this movie."

"What?!"

"Hey cut me some slack dude, with college being a bitch and already having my normal training to deal with I don't have time to binge on everything that pops into my head! If I did have that time then I'd be some cowboy party dude reject from Vegas!"

"...You mean like Geoff?"

"Exactly!" this was followed by a number of soldiers firing magic rifles at them, but Adam quickly cut them down using Ascalon, knocking them all out cold in an instant as he looked up and noticed Bridgette, Cody and Alejandro catching up to them "Hey Bridge I think these guys could afford to let this slide a little bit." he received dull looks from the others "What? I can't come up with these things very fast."

"I'm on it!" so Bridgette used her ice powers to freeze the roof she was running on, slowing down the soldiers on her tail a great deal, catching the Dragon Cry as she did so, sliding beneath the legs of one soldier as she did so "Alejandro!"

"Si!" Alejandro caught the staff right before he his way was cut off by soldiers "Forgive me for doing this, I bear you no ill will but I simply do what I must to save not only your world, but all worlds from this threat! **El Directo!"** he fired a blast at the soldiers, resulting in an explosion, only to suddenly receive a graze across his right shoulder from within the smoke "Que?!"

And then Zash emerged from the smoke "So it turns out you're the kind of punk who likes to steal things."

"You would know."

"And that little bitch that was with you just getting close so that the lot of you could take my ring and get inside of my personal vault, and what else would you and your pals go for but the fabled Dragon Cry. Trying to fight back against me would be a very unfortunate decision for you, do you have any idea why this kingdom put me in charge of their national defense? Go ahead, take a guess."

"The fact that you blackmailed your superiors into giving you the position coupled by the fact that you have no sense of shame?"

"Well aside from that. It's because from the moment I first came to this kingdom I showed the higher ups that I was as powerful as I am ruthless."

"I see. I actually have an older brother and you remind me a great deal of him, he is as skilled as he is ruthless and he will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants no matter who he has to hurt in the process. I made a vow on the grave of my eldest brother that I would never become like him, so to see someone like you with a heart as black as the night sickens me to my very core. And that is just one of the reasons why I'm going to defeat you. **Cero Oscuras!"** he fired a quick red and black energy blast from his fingertip, hitting Zash at point blank range and engulfing him in an explosion.

Zash emerged from the smoke unscathed and dealt Alejandro a quick uppercut, sending him flying backwards.

Alejandro quickly rebounded before he hit a wall and began trading even blows with Zash, only to get blown clear through a wall.

Zash entered through the wall, his eyes glowing crimson, his Mind Control magic affecting all of the civilians in the area.

' _Zash must be using his magic to control these people and use them as pawns, he thinks that he can hide behind them. And I thought Jose was dishonorable, this man makes him look like a saint among saints._ You would really resort to using innocent people and manipulating them to do your dirty work?"

"All's fair in war punk, now hurry up and fork over what you and your pals stole from me before I lose my temper."

"That staff was never yours to begin with, you stole that staff from the royal family of Fiore and attempted to overthrow them using a power you know next to nothing about."

"And here you are, trying to retrieve it for him like some mindless dog. That stupid little king never realized how much potential that thing had but I did, what's the point of power if it's never used?"

"There is more to life than just power. _I can't get to him without going through these people but I can't hurt any of them, I suppose for now the best option would be for me to retreat and rendezvoused with the others._ **Crimson Drive!"** he activated his Crimson Drive "I believe we will have to settle this score at a later date." and so he leapt into the skies and disappeared beyond the horizon.

' _Well isn't that unfortunate for him that little bastard and his friends have managed to piss off the most powerful man in the kingdom.'_

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Nightfall came, and rain was pouring down over the kingdom of Stella.

Animus, the king of Stella, was less than please when he heard from Zash the details of what had happened "Well well Zash, it would seem that you've managed to make quite a mess of this situation."

"Please your majesty, you need not worry." Zash bowed his head "All of this will be cleared up soon, once Sonya locates the thieves I will force them to return what they've stolen-" he suddenly froze in place, paralyzed by Animus and his magic power.

"Do not forget that Sonya is mine as well and I will not allow her to be harmed by your incompetence and ineptitude. Am I making myself clear to you Zash?" Animus released his paralysis "Although I can feel that our time is starting to grow dangerously short, we may be forced to make use of the gift that Sonya possesses. Take the Three Stars with you."

"Yes my lord."

"If you must be forced to make use of her gift then Sonya will need far more protection than you alone are capable of providing. Her safety in this leisure is paramount, it is your top priority above all else."

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Sonya stood in her chamber, staring out at the rain covered kingdom of Stella ' _I can feel it, our time is growing short.'_

"Lady Sonya." Animus made himself known to her, causing her to jump.

"You startled me King Animus, once again you are able to enter my private chamber without making a sound and without me noticing."

"Have you forgotten that I am a wizard as well my dear? The kingdom of Stella is in a great deal of peril, the only hope that we have rests within the power of the Dragon Cry."

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By this point, the group had set up camp for the night, far away from the city.

Alejandro studied the staff closely, pondering the next course of action "Now that we have acquired this staff the real challenge comes with returning it to Fiore, after all now our cover has been blown."

"So what the hell are we gonna do?" asked Natsu "Personally I vote that we blow through every single guy we come across like a bunch of angry bulls."

"That would risk the magic energy within the staff becoming volatile, which is something that we cannot afford. Perhaps we could just try and take it back to our dimension and return to Fiore through another portal that Lady Aurora can create for us."

"Not a chance, with that much residual power in our possession it could screw up the trip and leave us trapped between dimensions." Adam told him "I was there for just a few minutes during my fight with Vilgax but it f*cked me up pretty bad."

"It is pretty interesting though." Bridgette picked up the staff "It's pretty hard to believe that this staff has enough power in it to destroy an entire country."

"And that's just what people think they know about the Dragon Cry, if what Aurora says is true then it has enough power to destroy an entire planet."

"Not to mention you sensed beforehand what it's capable of." Mike pointed out "What did it feel like?"

"I don't know how to explain it but when I touched it I felt, it's like a burning sensation inside of me trying to claw its way out." he leaned back "Well who gives a crap about that right now anyway, the point is that the thing is insanely powerful so we just can't use it recklessly like a bunch of jackasses, which means that Happy should stop using the thing to draw fish."

Happy suddenly froze and dropped the Dragon Cry "I wasn't thinking about fish while holding a thing that can destroy a planet!"

"Which means that you totally were." and now he didn't have a shirt on.

"Why did you take off your shirt?" asked Mike.

"I wanted to see what Ice wizards find so appealing about it, plus I was king of sweating through the shirt anyway."

"Because Stella is at a higher geographical level of elevation compared to what we're used to dealing with." explained Cody "That's why it stands to reason that it would be a lot colder compared to the likes of-"

"NERD!"

"...I hate when you do that."

"Why do you think I do it? And Happy farted by the way." he looked up "You know I think I get why some people call this place the Island of Stars, the skies are pretty majestic."

"Oh you think so?" Natsu looked up, only to see clouds covering the sky "Well I think you're liar."

"And I think you're an idiot, just try to imagine it without the clouds using what little brain cells you actually have-" he suddenly bolted up and snuffed out the fire with a snap of his fingers as he drew Ascalon from its sheath "Guys get ready, we've got company closing in fast. Nobody let down your guard."

"Behold, for I am the true vision of beauty!" that was when Swan of the three stars burst onto the scene and started firing energy blasts at them with her feet.

"Oh that is hacks, I call total hacks!" Adam swatted off one of her kicks using Ascalon "So you're using Stellanium on your armor? Dammit I can't believe I never thought of that."

"I am poetry in motion!"

"Of course you are."

And then Doll of the Three Stars showed up on the scene "Playtime has come to an end for all of you now. **FranCoise Catelyn!"** he summoned his two dolls and had them unleash two simultaneous blasts of fire in the direction of Cody and Bridgette as he flexed his muscles "Yeah that's it, keep on going, don't stop for anything.

"Alright assholes I'm done screwing around with you." Adam prepared to unleash a blast of fire from the blade of Ascalon.

And then Gapri of the Three Stars bounced onto the scene, literally, using some kind of gigantic metal ball made of Stellanium and then proceeded to literally flatten Adam "Man you're one slow son of a bitch."

"At least I'm not compensating, and I'm also not slow enough to blow this little move. **Super Cyclone!"** Adam slammed one hand into the ground, unleashing a tornado that ended up blowing Gapri a great distance away.

"You think that's gonna stop me?!" to prove his point, Gapri promptly rammed Alejandro using his Stellanium ball.

"I've been wanting to try out this technique! **Hero's Slicer!"** pointing his Yin Yang Staff at his opponent, Cody fired a blast of chi at Doll, hitting him dead on and sending him skidding backwards, but only slightly wounding him.

"Excellent work my dears, now close in on him! **FranCoise Catelyn!"** Doll unleashed another blast of fire from his dolls, scorching Cody in the blast as he flexed his muscles "We're not really known for playing around."

"And neither am I." Natsu ate the blast of fire, increasing his flame reserves and allowing him to enter Dragon Force, just as he spotted a familiar figure "Oh hell no!"

Sure enough it was Zash, with Sonya right beside him, the former holding the Dragon Cry in his possession "And now I'll be taking back what belongs to me!"

"Not on your life bastard!" Natsu charged at Zash in a rage, only to suddenly freeze as he fell victim to Zash's mind control magic, causing him to set his sights on Mike as the flames of his Dragon Force intensified.

"Natsu hold on a minute, snap out of it!" Mike tried to get through to him, but her cries fell on deaf ears.

" **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Hidden Fire Form: Crimson Lotus: EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!"** with a dragon like roar, Natsu attacked Mike using one of his most powerful techniques in the form of a massive swirling blast of fire.

"Mike get out of the way!" blitzing forward as fast as he could without bothering to think it through, Adam burst towards them and shoved Mike out of the way full force, knocking him out cold with the force, before taking the full brunt of the blast himself, burning him heavily across his body and sending him tumbling backwards and crashing to the ground in a smocking heap, completely unconscious.

"Adam!" Bridgette and Cody both desperately tried to come to Adam's aid, only for the two of them, along with Natsu to be engulfed in a blast of fire from Doll and his FranCoise Catelyn, wounding them and knocking them out cold.

"Everyone just hold on!" now the only one left standing against their enemy, Alejandro tried to rush over to their aid.

"You know you Mystic Art errand mongrels really know how to drop the ball." managing to catch Alejandro by surprise, Swan dealt him a swift barrage of kicks to the gut, causing him to cough up a large amount of blood and knocking him out cold, leaving the last standing member of the team down for the count.

Zash looked on in approval "Excellent work, you've done very well Three Stars. Now go ahead and kill these worthless pieces of trash."

"No please don't, there's just no point." Sonya pleaded with him "All we came here to do is take back the Dragon Cry, to kill them like this just wouldn't be right."

"We came here in order to punish them, they have to pay the price for their crimes against the kingdom of Stella. If we granted them mercy then people would just think that we're growing soft on our enemies."

"The cries of their souls, I cannot bare hearing anymore pain and anguish." she looked over at the unconscious form of Adam "And the pain in his heart is so much it nearly overshadows that of all of the others."

"Oh for f*ck's sake."

"Hey you do realize that King Animus is gonna be really mad if you make Lady Sonya upset again." Gapris pointed out "Remember what happened during my sister's quinceanera?"

"...You agreed not to bring that up again. But if it'll shut you guys up then fine, just send these criminals to the Bird's Nest." he looked over towards Bridgette "But take that girl and put her with the others."

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Morning came, and the sun had long since risen over the Kingdom of Stella.

Natsu opened his eyes and found himself in a dimly lit room, covered in blood and burns and bound by chains "What the f*ck?! Hey is anybody there?!"

"If by that you mean can they hear you all the way back on Tenrou Island, then YES you f*cking moron!" a voice sounded through the air.

"Adam is that you? Where the hell are we? Where the hell are you?"

"In another room, that asshole Zash and his lapdogs locked us up in some kind of airborne prison and they took the others- You know what hold that thought." using his pure physical strength alone, Adam bashed opened the wall between their cells, revealing himself to be badly burnt across the front "Sup?"

"Okay that answers where the hell you are, but where in the name of hell are we?! And where are the others?"

"Hold on a second." Adam bashed opened another wall, revealing themselves to be flying through the air in a rock prison being carried by a gigantic predatory bird "Are you satisfied now?"

"NO! This isn't the answer that I was hoping for!"

"When the hell is it ever?" with little to no effort Adam shattered the chains that had appeared to be binding him, his burns healing almost instantaneously in the process, and he fed Natsu the torch on the wall that was lighting up the room "Now eat up."

So Natsu did, allowing him to break free and power up "Alright now that's the stuff, now let's get this pigeon from hell!"

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15 minutes and one anime style scene that could be interpreted as animal cruelty later, now on the ground…

Adam looked down at the scorched form of the bird in front of the two of them "Just for the sake of being clear, Bridgette never finds out about this or I'll send you to join Hades in wherever the hell he ended up. Deal?"

"Yeah sure, whatever…" Natsu looked away, his expression forlorn.

"So you remember everything that happened last night?"

"Yeah." Natsu gripped his fists to the point where they started bleeding, his teeth grinding furiously "It's my fault, I let all of this happened. Adam… I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, what's done is done and getting super angsty won't change anything that happened."

"But you didn't hurt your friends because of some other asshole."

"Actually… that's not true."

"What do you mean?"

"Natsu… I told you about how I lost my parents when I was only 8. I didn't tell you how though did I?"

"No I don't think so."

"Mike was the one who did it."

Natsu froze "What…?"

"Not by choice I can assure you, he was being controlled."

"Like that guy Zash did to me?"

"Not exactly. You remember that guy Brain from the Oracion Seis?"'

"The creepy prayer guy with the weird Split Personality?"

"Yeah it's actually kind of similar to that, Mike has what we call Multiple Personality Disorder but he has 5 other personalities, one of which has been heavily suppressed for about five years or so now. His name is Mal, and he was the one responsible. There's a lot more to it as I found out recently but that's for later. To know that my best friend, even if not by choice, had taken my family from me just ripped me apart inside. My heart was shattered, any emotions I had were nonexistent, and that was the way I stayed for about six years, even after I met Carlos. He was the only person I came even close to trusting."

"So what happened to change you like that?"

"I met my friends Devin and Carrie, Devin in particular. It took him a long time to get me to let out my pain, but he did manage to about a year before I met Bridgette."

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 **(Flashback- 1 year before the events of the Rise of an Underdog)**

Adam sat on the hill outside of Ocean Falls, his entire body shaking ' _It's that day again, the day that I've been dreading every single year.'_

"Carlos told me I'd find you up here."

Adam looked back to see Devin standing behind him, but he didn't turn around "I thought you had that date with Shelly right about now, what are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that. Everyone else is getting worried about you so I offered to come and check up on you."

"...It's that day again. It's been 9 years since I lost my parents that day."

"Oh. Yeah. Right."

"Look I just wanna be alone right now Devin, I'll be fine tomorrow so can you please just drop it and go on your date with the bitch from hell?"

"You know better than everyone except for Carrie that I can't do that if I know you're here in so much pain. I know you're not ready to tell me about the burden that you're bearing but I know enough to know that it's something that you can't bare by yourself. You're not the only one who's suffering and you're not the only one who's feeling pain, you have people who care about you Adam. You've spent 2 years trying to endure all of this on your own with no help from anyone except for Carlos, me and everyone else like Carrie and Cody want to help you but we can't if you don't let us. You're trying to be strong for our sakes so we don't have to worry about you but sometimes you've gotta learn how to let it out, after all that's what makes us friends isn't it? All of those things that make us happy or sad or anything like that, you have to share them with the people that you care about." he put a hand on Adam's shoulder "After all, even if you're trying to be strong it doesn't mean anything if you're not strong enough to let out all of the pain that you're holding in."

Very slowly, Adam turned around and faced Devin, revealing that he had tears streaming down his face, and he buried his face in Devin's shoulder as he sobbed quietly.

Without any hesitation, Devin proceeded to comfort Adam to the best of his ability "Just don't forget that stuff like this is what friends are for."

(Flashback end)

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Adam let out a sigh filled with nostalgia "That's something that I've never forgotten, not even for a second. But even so I lied to so many of my friends for so long about Mal, and even though he knew I had been hiding something Devin has remained patient for years. He's special for a number of reasons." he gripped Natsu by the shoulder "But in regards to your situation, let me just say this. You can't prevent your friends from even getting hurt, we're all teenagers and getting hurt is part of the job description. But what really matters is that you're there for them and you'll step up when it really counts, and that's the kind of guy that you are."

"You think so?" asked Natsu.

"Hell yeah. Now come on, let's go find the others and save the world."

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45 minutes later, after busting Cody, Mike, Happy and Alejandro out of prison…

" **Lightning King Iron Hammer!"** Adam thrusted Ascalon forward and unleashed a powerful blast of lightning, blowing down one of the castle walls "Okay what gives you guys, where the hell is Bridgette?"

Natsu nodded "Yeah and why is she the only one missing, and why just her?"

"I'll give you two guesses, it's because she's a woman and he's the scum of this world."

"I fear that it may be worse than we believe." Alejandro muttered "While we were imprisoned I heard a few things about that man Zash, or more specifically the magic that he had used in our battle last night to control Natsu."

"And he's gonna use that on her."

"I fear it is much worse than that."

"...Let me make this clear to the rest of you guys before we go barging in like a stampede of angry fangirls." Adam's body began crackling with electricity and radiating fire from his pure rage "We're gonna go find Bridgette, we're gonna get the Dragon Cry back, and we're gonna bring it back to Fiore. And if Zash hurt her in any way, shape or form then don't hesitate to put that sick mutt down."

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Sony peered down a water filled well, her mind drifting to the events of last night ' _That man's heart was filled with such pain, and yet his soul is as pure as the light of the sun itself. Perhaps he could be able to do it.'_

"Lady Sonya." that was when Animus appeared behind her.

"You startled me King Animus, what may I do for you?"

"Where is the Dragon Cry?"

"Sir Zash still has it in his possession, he insists on holding onto it until we conduct the ceremony tomorrow."

"That's not right, he should've brought the staff directly to me immediately." Animus suddenly gripped the side of his head in pain and agony.

"What is the matter?"

"We don't have much time left, I need the Dragon Cry in my hands. I need you to bring it to me at once."

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Bridgette opened her eyes and found herself in a dungeon "What the… Where am I? Is this some kind of jail? Where are Adam and the others?" she looked over and some girls sitting in another cell on the other side of the hall "Those girls…"

The girls looked over at Bridgette, their eyes filled with pity "Looks like he picked up another new one, the poor thing has no idea."

"What?"

"I'm sorry, but this place is nothing short of a living hell." it turns out that their bodies were all littered with scars.

"What happened, did someone do this to all of you?"

"You got a problem with that missy?" that was when Zash showed up with the Dragon Cry on his back, causing the other girls to cower in fear.

Bridgette on the other hand remained defiant "Hold on, what do you want with me and all of these other girls?"

"You'll find out in a minute." with a quick glance Zash used his magic to place Bridgette under his control "Now come with me."

"Yes sir." she followed him out of the prisoner hall and into a chamber further back into the dungeon, her eyes glowing blood crimson due to the effects of the magic being used to control her "Now stand over there and raise your arms."

"Yes sir." she went over to a nearby column and raised her arms which, along with her legs, were suddenly bound by chains.

"Tell me something, what do you think I want with you and the rest of these girls?" he gained a wicked smirk "All I need from you is just a little bit of blood every day, sure it's gonna leave a few scars but at least that way it won't kill you. In order to practice the dark arts requires that a form of blood sacrifice be given daily, besides the screams get more enjoyable." he pulled out a small dagger "Just hold still."

"Y-Yes sir…" despite the mind control, Bridgette was shaking in fear.

"Alright, let's get to the good part." Zash raised the blade when…

"Sir Zash I need the staff!" that was when Sonya burst into the room.

"Back off girl, just let me-"

"LET BRIDGETTE GO!" that was when Adam burst into the room in his full power Cosmic Knight form, disrupting the mind control and snapping Bridgette back to reality as he quickly slammed Zash into the ground and pierced him in the chest, causing blood to pour from the wound "Natsu get her out of here while I take out the trash."

Sure enough, Mike rushed into the room and freed Bridgette from her shackles "Come on, let's get you out of here Bridgette."

"Remember my shtick, hurt her and I'll rip out your throat with a huge Erza levels of crazy smile on my face." the deadly serious expression on his face nearly made Mike shit bricks.

Sonya studied both Adam and Mike "One of their companions outside must be a Dragon Slayer, but this one with the sword… He possesses a power that I have never seen before."

"It's called the power of a Cosmic Lacrima, and nothing personal chica but for what your boi just tried to do to the woman that I love your entire kingdom is about to pay the price. Okay I see that was going too far but the point still stands, anyone who tries to hurt my friends doesn't live to tell the tale." he pulled Bridgette into a tight embrace before lifting her up into his arms bridal style "Natsu, Cody and Alejandro are dealing with a bunch of soldiers outside so let's not waste any more time in here than we have to?"

"But there are a bunch of other girls in here too, we can't just leave them here. We have to help them." Bridgette told him.

"We'll be sure to come back for them, Mike take Ascalon and Bridgette and get her out of here while I take out the trash." he handed Ascalon to Mike "The warning still applies."

"Got it, come on let's go." so Mike took Bridgette by the hand and led her away to get her to somewhere safe.

"And now to take out the trash."

"You little bastard!" Zash pulled himself back to his feet "How the hell did you break out of the Bird's Nest and how did you find us in here?"

"I can sense where my friends are from across any of the ten dimensions. Yeah that's right, you're about to be slaughtered by a guy from another dimension. Let that sink in while I'm ripping out your still beating heart."

"Only after I reduce you to a burning corpse along with all of your companions!" Zash prepared to unleash the power of the Dragon Cry.

"No please don't do it Sir Zash, you'll kill all of us!" Sonya pleaded.

"Shut up! Anyone who dares to get in the way of my objectives! will be wiped from the face of Earth Land forever!"

"You wanna bet?" thinking quickly, Adam grabbed onto Sonya and blitzed away right before the area was engulfed in an explosion.

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Adam looked around "Is everyone alright?"

"Define your definition of okay." Alejandro spat out a little bit of rubble "Where are we right now anyway?"

"Looks like some kind of underground tunnel." Adam shot a glance over at Sonya "So what's your deal then, you from Stella?"

Sonya nodded, blushing slightly as she briefly locked eyes with Adam "Yes I am, my name is Lady Sonya-"

" _You can't hide from me forever you worthless pieces of scum! When I find you you're as good as dead!"_

"...Sir Zash is coming. Please follow me, I know of a way out."

"You know normally I would be against running from a fight." Adam got to his feet "But even though we have to get the staff back from that piece of scum the first thing to do right now is rendezvous with Mike and Bridgette."

"Yes, now please follow me." and so Sonya began leading what was left of the group down the tunnels, using her magic power to detect the presence of Zash and his men "This way, let us hurry."

"So you have the ability to sense where people are or something?" asked Cody.

"That is the magic power that I possess."

"Which means that they used your powers in order to locate us before our rather taxing battle last night." Alejandro noted.

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It wasn't long before Sonya had led the group out of the tunnels "You and your companions should be safe here, for the time being at the very least."

"We really gotta thank you for helping us out like this." Adam told her "You said before that your name is Sonya right?"

"That is correct, I am Lady Sonya and I am an advisor to King Animus."

"So then why would you help us escape like this?" asked Alejandro "Surely you must have some sort of reason."

"Yes I do, it's because I cannot idly stand by and watch as my people suffer any longer than I already have."

"Yeah tell me about it, living with Zash must be hell for anyone." Adam commented.

"That is not what I am referring to. King Animus and I have known each other for as long as I am able to remember, he was once a truly kind hearted man until the day came in which he became obsessed with getting his hands on the magic power of the Dragon Cry. Sir Zash told him about the magic power that it holds. I even had to help him steal it and tried to force myself to believe that it was for the good of the kingdom."

"How could something like that possibly help your people?"

"Do you happen to know anything about Stellanium?"

"You mean aside from the fact that it packs one hell of a punch, it's the kingdom's special mineral and it can absorb a crap load of starlight?"

"The more starlight that is absorbed by the crystals, the more illustrious and therefore more valuable they can become."

"And the problem is?"

"The problem is that for the last few years the Stellanium has been crying out, it seems that a great deal of it has been absorbing too much starlight and our kingdom now faces the threat of having all of that light released at once."

"Is that a bad thing?" asked Cody "It's just light, what's the big deal?"

"When Stellanium absorbs a certain amount of starlight it ends up gaining magic power, if all of that built up energy were to suddenly be unleashed then the entire kingdom of Stella could be wiped out in one brilliant flash. In order to prevent our destruction we desperately need the power of the Dragon Cry. According to the legends the Dragon Cry is capable of extinguishing all light, there is a certain ceremony and the king plans to perform it tomorrow night in a temple in the northwest part of the city."

"Would that not make your kingdom suffer?" asked Alejandro.

"But it is also the only way that it can be saved, though it may mean that we lose every Stellanium crystal that we possess. Do you understand? That is why we need the power of the Dragon Cry, without it my people will surely perish."

"It belongs to the kingdom of Fiore and our mission is to ensure its safe return, that is why we've come here in the first place."

"That may be true, but right now the power that it holds is the only hope for the future of the entirety of Stella."

"You're dead wrong about that lady." Natsu outright snarled, taking her by surprise "I didn't even need to touch it to be able to feel it, the anger and the suffering of the dragons. We can't let that kind of power be released."

Adam nodded "Natsu is right, I myself touched it so I know better than anyone what he's talking about."

"But if we don't then our kingdom will be destroyed!" Sonya protested "Do the two of you not have hearts?"

"Of course we do, but we also have brains." this left her taken aback "I think it goes without saying that we're both more than willing to destroy all of the Stellanium on this island to save your people but we need you to give us the Dragon Cry. It's way more powerful than you think it is, if its power is unleashed then it could destroy not only your kingdom but also this entire world as a result. We need you to give it to us."

"I… I'm so sorry but I can't do that, I just can't!" and then she ran off, leaving Adam and the others alone.

"Well now I feel like an ass. And now it's passed. Come on, let's go find Mike and Bridgette before they get themselves killed."

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Nightfall came, and the tension in the air was thick.

Animus was in the process of punishing Zash for his actions during the day by using his magic to paralyze him in a painful way "I thought I made it clear to you Zash that Sonya was not to be put in harm's way, and yet in your mindless and impulsive stupidity you dare to use the power of the staff in her presence."

"Please… forgive me… your majesty!" Zash managed to get out through the pain "It was merely… a lapse of judgement…" he was released from the paralysis by Animus.

"The ceremony is going to be held tomorrow night and surely our intruders will be there without fail, see to it that they do not survive. Do I make myself clear?" and he took his leave without bothering to wait for a response, leaving Zash fuming.

' _Oh those scum won't live to see the morning, and neither will you my so called king. I swear that.'_

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By this point the team had regrouped and was about to settle down in a camping spot for the night in the middle of a forest.

Cody looked around in awe "This forest is so beautiful and the fruit is literally glowing, I feel like I'm in Toriko."

"We should camp here for the night." Alejandro suggested "However in case that they manage to find us again I suggest that we sleep in shifts."

"Don't worry about it guys I'll take the whole damn night." and then Natsu promptly lost consciousness.

"That was fast."

"Yeah like anyone who's actually watched Fairy Tail didn't see that coming, just let me take the first watch." Adam told them "But for now let's move onto more important things."

"Agreed. From what we know so far based on what Lady Sonya has told us they plan to use the Dragon Cry to extinguish all of the Stellanium, but how could that even be possible."

"And say it does work by some miracle what do they do then, let their entire kingdom go bankrupt as a result?"

"Regardless of what the outcome will be we cannot allow them to use the magic power within the staff."

"Well that goes without saying."

"You guys said that she said they were going to use it as part of some kind of ceremony tomorrow night." Mike pointed out.

"Which means that we have to steal it back before then."

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Hours passed, and most of the group had already fallen asleep.

Well, all of them except for Adam that is, who was lying on the ground gazing up at the night skies of Stella with his eyes being covered by his bangs ' _I swore that I would never let them see me like this.'_

"You having a hard time sleeping too?"

Adam glanced over and found Bridgette leaning against another tree "No not really, but it's my turn for guard duty isn't it?"

"Actually it's Mike's turn."

"Uh huh."

"...I see your point."

"Yeah well, I've just been doing some thinking. About why we were sent here, among other things."

"I know what you mean, if we fulfill our mission then this entire island could be destroyed in an instant."

"...You know what screw the conversation, come with me." he suddenly lifted her into his arms and leapt up to the top of a tree, revealing the majestic starlights of the kingdom of Stella covering the skies above them.

Bridgette could only look on in awe at what she was seeing "It's… It's so beautiful, I've never seen anything like it."

"Yeah, you did say that you wanted to see them didn't you?" he picked up a small piece of Stellanium and crushed it in his hand as tears began streaming down his face, something that took her by surprise "Chances like this are why you have to keep your chin up and it's why you have to know when to share your pain with others."

"...You know it's been a year since I fell in love with you Adam, but even now you continue to surprise me." she pulled him into a tight embrace as they continue to gaze up at the night sky.

Down on the ground, Mike looked up at them and gave a small smile ' _Way to go Adam, you're finally entering the last stage of healing. I knew it was only a matter of time.'_

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Morning came, and the sun had long since risen over the Kingdom of Stella.

Sting and Rogue were quick to notice some soldiers on the prowl like a pack of pissed off tigers roaming the city "Hey Rogue what gives with all of these guys giving us the stink eye? I mean it's not like we did anything since we've been here."

"You mean aside from the fact that Lector started 3 bar fights in one night and you had a threeway one night stand with two bunny waitresses in that bar?" Rogue pointed out dryly "The point I'm making is that Frosch and I haven't done anything, you and Lector have made yourselves into criminals just by being yourself you man child."

"Oh come on that's not fair!"

"We passed fair the minute you tried to drag me into a four way."

Frosch nodded "I think so too."

"See? Even Frosch thinks so."

"Halt, you four identify yourselves!" and then the soldiers started charging at them like a bunch of blind idiots.

"What the?"

"Beats me, we literally haven't done anything." Sting received a look "Okay fine you haven't done anything."

"I don't think they're part of the welcoming committee." Lector commented.

"Well that's too bad for them cause if they're looking for a fight-"

"Then we'll give them one." Rogue summoned a shadow sword "You can smell Natsu and a few others nearby can't you?"

"I gotcha. I'll go meet up with him, you deal with these guys and catch up to us when you're finished with it." and he left, taking Lector and Frosch with him.

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Adam was leading Natsu and the others towards what would be the battlefield when they heard the "What the hell is going on up there?"

"I'll go check it out, just make sure that the rest of you guys don't do anything too reckless for now." and so Natsu took off just as a squad of Stella knights prepared to advance on the main group.

"Looks like we've got ourselves one hell of a welcome wagon!" in a matter of seconds Adam had already disabled all of them without killing any of them "I'm guessing the Three Stars can't be too far behind, you guys head onto the temple while I stick around and handle the lot of these assholes."

"Are you sure about this?" asked Bridgette.

"Remember what I said to you last night, now get going and get that staff!"

"Aye sir!" the now red colored Happy and Cody both saluted, the two of them both now sporting red skin.

"Ay dios mio!" Alejandro looked increasingly weirded out "What in the name of El Diablo happened to you two?"

"Wait what?" Cody noticed it and nearly lost his shit "Oh man it must be because of that fruit that I ate last night!"

"Let us just hope that the effects are temporary."

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At the same time, Adam was easily subduing the soldiers attacking him using a few swift pressure point attacks, knocking them out cold in seconds "Alright show yourself lap dogs, I know you're waiting to get the jump on me."

"So you noticed us glasses wearing swordsman." that was when Swan of the Three Stars revealed herself.

"The leg fighter who uses the Stellanium armor in battle, this is gonna be good."

"That is where you're wrong my fellow warrior, for I am the lovely leg wizard and you would be wise to remember such a thing!" and so Swan took off through a set of ruins, with Adam following hot on her heels.

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The sun was setting over the Kingdom of Stella.

Natsu was racing through the streets of Stella until he noticed three familiar figures in front of him, much to his surprise "What the hell… Sting?!"

Sure enough, standing in front of him was Sting, with Frosch and Lector both standing on either side of him "Son of a bitch, Natsu what's up?"

"Sting what the hell are you doing here?"

"Me and Rogue and these two came here on a job a few days ago and Frosch said that he saw you and Happy, what are you guys doing here?"

"Dealing with some crap for the king involving a magic staff, I actually met some new guys from this other dimension because of it. They use this weird kind of magic they call Cosmic Slayer or something, stuff like wind, lightning, fire, ice, blah blah blah."

"Sounds interesting."

"I even fought the strongest one using my Lightning Flame Dragon Mode and Dragon Force and that wasn't even enough to beat him."

"Your playtime is over." that was when Doll of the Three Stars revealed himself " **FranCois Catelyn!"** he summoned his two dolls.

"And we've got this asshole to deal with now."

"So what's this guy's deal?" asked Sting "Have you and this giant walking bicep been playing with dolls or something?"

"Hell no, what do you think I'm insane? You know what screw it, I'll explain that later. Right now I've gotta with some people, you think you can take care of this guy while I go meet up with them?"

"You've got it, I'll have this guy taken care of in no time flat."

"Great, thanks." and so Natsu took off running.

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The race to obtain the Dragon Cry went on, with Cody, Mike, Bridgette, Happy and Alejandro as the only ones in the group remaining "There's another one coming towards us, get ready you guys!"

"Coming in hot mother f*ckers!" that was when Gapri of the Three Stars burst onto the scene on top of his metal ball "Good god you guys are so slow."

Cody stepped forward "I've got this guy, the rest of you go on ahead and I'll catch up with you once I'm done here."

"Are you sure about this?" asked Happy.

"Does this answer your question?" Cody summoned his Yin Yang Staff "Now go ahead and do what Adam would do."

"...We'll be sure to come back for you." and so the three of them took off.

' _Just watch me Gwen, this one's for you.'_

"You're not getting past me!" Gapri charged at the group.

Cody suddenly blitzed in front of him and pointed his staff at him " **Hero's Slicer!"** he fired a blast of energy from the end of the staff, hitting Gapri dead on before he could react and blowing him backwards, engulfing him in an explosion.

When the smoke cleared, it revealed Gapri sporting minor burns across his body "Well what the hell do you know, you're not too bad kid."

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Now there were only four left on the chase for the Dragon Cry.

Bridgette looked over to Mike and the others "Sorry you guys but I have to go and help those girls that are still trapped in Zash's dungeon."

"Are you going to be alright alone?" asked Alejandro.

"She's not going to be alone." Mike told her, his eyes radiating a surprising amount of determination and resolve "Alejandro I think you should go with her."

"But Mike you don't have any powers, you would never be able to stand by yourself if you were to encounter someone like Zash when you're alone."

"That's where you're wrong Alejandro, I'm not alone." Mike shot him a smile filled with renewed confidence "I've got Happy with me, and I've got my spirits keeping me up when I get down. Not to mention that I have my personalities."

"...We'll be sure to meet up with you once the senoritas have been freed." and so Alejandro took off after Bridgette towards the dungeon.

"Well Happy, I guess it's up to the two sidekicks to stop this thing and save the world this time around."

Happy nodded "Aye sir, from now on just call me Crimson Happy!"

"And you can call me Multiple Mike." and to prove his point, he suddenly transformed into one of his personalities, this one being Svetlana "Is time for Svetlana to show zis dragon man what we are capable of!"

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The time for the ceremony was drawing near.

Sonya stood in front of the Dragon Cry as she thought about what Adam and Natsu has said to her before ' _They said that they were able to feel the anger and the suffering of the dragons from the staff, and if its power were to be released then this entire world could be destroyed. I have to know if it's true.'_ she braced herself and gripped the staff, and tears suddenly began streaming down her face.

"Sonya." that was when Animus got her attention.

"Your majesty."

"There is little time, I need you to give me the Dragon Cry this instant."

"But King Animus if we use the staff then more people are going to suffer, I'm sorry but I cannot let you have it."

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By this point Bridgette and Alejandro had freed the other prisoner girls and were guiding them out of the dungeon "You have to hurry, get out of here before he comes back! Now is your chance to get back the freedom that he stole from you!"

"Thank you." one of the women shot them a small smile "Thank you both so much for saving us."

"You can thank us by getting out of here."

"And quickly, he's coming." Alejandro noted.

Sure enough, Zash burst into the dungeon, literally foaming at the mouth from the pure rage he was feeling "WHERE THE HELL IS THE DRAGON CRY?! What in the name of hell is going on here?!"

"Your schemes are at an end Zash, that is what's going on."

"This time I will kill you you little punk!"

"I wouldn't be so sure." he glanced back "Bridgette listen to me, go rejoin Mike and the cat while I deal with Zash."

"Just watch out for his eyes, and make sure this jerk gets what he has coming to him." with that being said, Bridgette rushed off with the rest of the girls.

"And now it's just the two of us Zash, just as was intended."

"Don't you dare mock me you little punk!" Zash tried to take control of Alejandro using his magic power.

However, faster than he was able to react, Alejandro slipped on a pair of shades, covering his eyes and making him immune "Such a shame it truly is senor, your spell fails to effect those whose eyes are covered. And that is why you are going to lose this battle." to prove this point he blitzed forward and dealt Zash a quick kick to the face, sending him crashing straight through the wall behind him.

Zash quickly burst out from the rubble, pissed as hell "I don't have the time to be dealing with your little revolution, Red Knife come on!" he summoned a large red dog and took off while riding on top of its back.

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Another battle was about to begin.

Adam brandished Ascalon against Swan and her Stellanium leg armor "You know I usually prefer not to have to harm a woman being one of the few guys from my world who still believes in chivalry, but that rule goes out the window if anyone tries to hurt my friends so don't think I'm gonna hold back. You hear me?"

"Loud and clear swordsman! **Grand Fouette** " and so Swan charged at Adam and fired off a barrage of energy blasts with her feet.

Adam deflected every blast that was thrown at him, running along the side of a nearby cliff as he charged an attack through his sword " **Lightning Beast Chase!"** he summoned a barrage of lightning dragons and fired them forward.

Swan disabled them using her Stellanium leg gauntlets and attempted to deal Adam a solid kick to the torso.

Adam caught her foot with one hand and threw her away without breaking a sweat, taking her aback with this "Okay now I'm done screwing around, now I'm fighting seriously." and without a moment's hesitation, he flashed into his Cosmic Knight form, shattering the ground beneath him and leaving her frozen in awe and fear "Well now you've seen true power, so what do you think?"

"But… But how? My lovely kicks should've left you mesmerized."

"You've got nice kicks I'll give you that much chica but something is lacking in your overall execution, and because of that the seven stars will judge you even more harshly." and with that being said, Adam dealt Swan a powerful blow to the gut, causing her to fall over and lose consciousness, before he transformed back "Remember this pain and let it activate you. That one is for you Christopher Sabat." and he rushed off to join the others.

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The second battle was raging onwards.

"Now Francois! Now Catelyn!" using his own Dolls at his command, Doll attacked Sting using powerful blasts of fire.

" **White Dragon's Roar!"** Sting unleashed his signature dragon roar in the form of a blast of light.

"Simple mere light tricks will not be nearly enough to stop me!" Doll continued to fire off random blasts of fire, causing major amounts of damage throughout the city.

"What the f*ck?! This is his city dude!"

"LOOK OUT!" seeing a random child cornered, Lector rushed over to defend her, only to end up taking the blast in her place."

"LECTOR!"

"Another masterful job Catelyn." Doll noted "You have done well and you have pleased me as a result."

"...Oh that is it, now your shit is about to get wrecked." and to prove his point Sting went over to a nearby burning building and ate the flames of the fire, thereby granting him the power of these flames "How do you like this? **Change Mode: White Flame Dragon!"**

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"You really think you've got what it takes to stop me you little punk?!" Gapri continued with his assault on Cody as he shot forward, the shockwave of his advancement blowing Cody back a great distance.

However, Cody suddenly blitzed behind him before he could react "I've had more than enough of you!" he slugged Gapri across the face, sending him hurtling to the ground.

Gapri quickly rebounded and charged at him, only for his iron ball to be sent flying away from him by a mere sweep of Cody's hand "What the-?!"

" **Hero's Slicer!"** Cody hit Gapri with an energy blast to the gut at point blank range, causing him to cough up blood "Whatever you do it's not going to work. I don't care how fast you might be, it's nothing compared to what powers I've been granted by the universe." he dealt Gapri a fierce barrage of punches and kicks, sending him hurtling high into the air, but Cody could feel his chi beginning to face "I'd better try and conserve for the fight to come, I'm gonna end this one in one shot!" he prepared a one handed energy blast "Hold it… Hold it… Hold it…"

"YOU'RE MINE YOU LITTLE SHIT!" now back on his ball, Gapri charged towards Cody in a blind rage.

" **HERO'S IMPACT!"** Cody fired off a one handed energy blast, engulfing Gapri nearly at point blank range and resulting in a massive explosion.

When the smoke cleared, Gapri was face down in a large crater "Ow…"

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" **White Flame Dragon's Iron Fist!"** Sting dealt Doll a light and fire enhanced fist to the face, sending him crashing to the ground.

Doll pulled himself out of a crater "This shouldn't be possible, how is it that he's as strong as this?!"

"You wanna know how? **White Drive!"** Sting activated his White Drive, increasing his power even further.

"But that heat should've melted you away completely, you shouldn't even be alive right now let alone able to fight!"

"You really shouldn't underestimate the power of a wizard of Sabertooth, or a Dragon Slayer for that matter. We know how to take a lot of heat, especially from some reject playthings like those things you're always carrying around."

"You… HOW DARE YOU! YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO RIDICULE MY PRECIOUS DAUGHTERS?! SHOW HIM WHAT YOU CAN DO AND RIP HIS HEART OUT!" now thoroughly enraged, Doll sent his dolls at Sting in a blind rage, attacking him with numerous blasts of fire.

"Yeah I've had enough of you! Time to show what this technique is really capable of! **Advanced Dragon Slayer Secret Art: CRIMSON NOVA!"** Sting hit Doll at point blank range with a flame enhanced version of his most powerful attack, blowing him away in a powerful explosion, destroying his dolls in the process.

"FranCois… Catelyn… No…" and then Doll passed out.

"And that's why you don't f*ck with my cat." Sting went over and scooped up the unconscious form of Lector "Don't worry little buddy, I've got you."

"How is he?" Frosch made his way out of his hiding place.

"I think he'll be alright, but listen to me Frosch because I need you to do something. Can you take him back to Rogue while I go join up with Natsu?"

"Yeah, sure." so he did, leaving Sting to join the main frey.

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Animus glowered at Sonya, his eyes filled with burning rage "Tell me Sonya, just what is it that you're trying to prove? Hand over the Dragon Cry before I lose my patience and do something that we'll both regret."

Sonya remained firm in her defiance "I'm sorry King Animus but that's something I simply cannot do.

"I'm not going to ask you again Sonya, give to to me."

"Give it up, zis is the end of zhe line!" that was when Svetlana and Happy arrived on the scene ready for a fight "You have no chance of victory in zis fight!"

"What?" Sonya whipped around to face them, only to notice that Animus had suddenly disappeared "What the- Where did his majesty go?"

"Listen to me girl, let go of zhe staff before you end up hurting yourself because you cannot handle its power."

"But I don't understand, King Animus was just here."

"I don't want to have to take zhe staff from you girl, please give it to me."

"No, I can't just give up the staff… I-"

" _You must not let them take the staff!"_

Sonya froze and slowly turned around, voices screaming throughout her mind as she slowly turned to see the reflection of Animus staring at her, only for it to suddenly morph into her own reflection "I-I don't understand… your majesty… you and I… are one in the same?"

" _I would have thought that you would have realized it much sooner than this.'_

"So then… we were always one?"

" _The time has come for you to face the truth Sonya, and that truth is that you and I are one in the same."_

"No… No… I…" she gripped her head in agony.

"Sonya no!" Happy cried out.

There was a pulsing vibration and _Sonya_ suddenly whipped around and tried use the Dragon Cry to electrocute both Happy and Svetlana with a blast of magic energy.

Svetlana managed to dodge the blast, reverting back to Mike in the process "Tell me something, just who are you really?."

 _Sonya_ let out a chuckle full of malice "If you must know I am Animus, and I am the soul of a dragon that lives within the body of Sonya."

"You're a dragon? You mean like Igneel or Acnologia kind of dragon? You're saying that you're that kind of dragon?"

"Indeed I am one who is not of this world!" Animus began surrounding himself with magic energy from within the staff.

"What is it that you're planning? You're not actually going to stop the Stellanium from exploding all at once like Sonya said are you? Was what she said even true?"

"Poor naive little Sonya, to think that she believed in such nonsense. How incredibly foolish of her. All this time my goal has been to finally free myself from this pathetic human body and live as I was intended, as a true dragon!"

"But you need the Dragon Cry to do it, Igneel could do it on his own but you can't. Tell me, why is that?"

"You know Igneel, as in Igneel the fearsome king of the fire dragons? Igneel had the luxury of being able to enter the most compatible type of humans, he was allowed to choose a Dragon Slayer. I however did not have the time to carefully choose my vessel, I had to pick the nearest living human at the time. This was Sonya, the little girl who lay on the ground with grave injuries and it was because of this that I was never able to leave Sonya of my own will. But now that I have the Dragon Cry staff in my hands that changes everything!" he unleashed a massive burst of magic energy "For its true purpose is to amplify the power of a dragon, after all of this time freedom will belong to me!"

"NO WAY IN HELL!" that was when Natsu and Sting both burst onto the scene and attacked with a three way combination of fire, lightning and light.

Animus was quick to notice something about the two of them "So it's you two, you were the ones chosen by Igneel and Weisslogia?" but then Sonya managed to take back control of her body and called off the blast "Natsu, Mike, please hurry and take the staff!"

"Sonya?" Mike slowly stepped forward.

"Hurry before it's too late!"

"R-Right!" so Mike, along with Natsu and Sting, tried to reach for the staff.

"SONYA!" that was when Zash burst onto the scene on top of Red Knife and snatched the Dragon Cry from them "The power of the Dragon Cry belongs to me and me alone, you understand?!" this left Happy, the only other one on his feet, terrified at the sight of such a large dog.

"Sir Zash…" Sonya tried to pull herself to her feet.

"King Animus, or is it Lady Sonya speaking to me right now? As the ruler of this kingdom you were the one giving me orders and as Lady Sonya I was the one giving you orders, but to be quite honest your bothersome identity crisis has really gotten on my nerves."

"I don't understand… what do you plan to do with the magic power of the Dragon Cry? What are your intentions?"

"What do you think? I'm going to enact my revenge on the kingdom of Fiore, the Dragon Cry is a highly condensed form of Ethernano and once its magic power has been released the destruction and magic power that it rain downs will be greater than that of a dozen blasts of Etherion! This is their punishment for expelling me from my homeland, with this power at my disposal I will wipe Fiore off of the map forever! I will show them the true power of the dark arts! Now Red Knife these worthless scraps of flesh are yours to feast upon while I obtain my revenge!" and he rushed off to unleash the power of the Dragon Cry.

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" _ **Mike. Rise."**_

Slowly, Mike pulled himself back to his feet and looked around as he tried to find the source of this menacing voice, ,only to find himself inside of his own mind "What… Who's there?"

" _ **Face forward."**_

Mike did so, and found a window before him showing him the outside world, revealing the events going on outside, and then shifting to Adam rushing towards the location where the Dragon Cry ceremony was to take place " _ **That boy, he is your enemy."**_

"What? No he's not, Adam is my best friend and we've been that way since we were kids! Why would I ever think something like that?"

" _ **Do not try to delude yourself. You must kill Adam, only then will you truly be free of your pain and on the path to unlimited power."**_

"Who are you? Where are you? Why can't I see you? Where are Svetlana and the rest of my other personalities?"

" _ **You have to kill Adam, it is your destiny."**_

"Alright stop it, show yourself! Mal if this is you then stop hiding and let me see your face already!"

" _ **Mal was weak, he couldn't handle the power that I gave him and that set off this path of events over nearly a decade. But you are strong. Look down."**_

Mike looked down at his shadow, only to find it staring back at him, as if it were a shadowy reflection of himself "No way, it can't be… You're my…"

" _ **Yes that's right Mike, I'm your shadow. I'm willing to lend you my power, now go and strike that fool Zash down along with the dragon Animus, and then Adam will follow them into the afterlife."**_

"No… No!... NO!" Mike suddenly started to clutch the sides of his head in pain and agony over the temptations.

" _ **Go on and kill Adam and anyone else that would stand in your way, you have to do it for it is your destiny!"**_

"NOOOO!" Mike was suddenly surrounded by black flames, covering his entire body in strange black marks.

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"STOP!" Happy tried to rush off to stop Zash from unleashing the power of the Dragon Cry, only to find himself frozen with fear while having to deal with Red Knife "I'm not gonna let you gobble them up like they're dog food, you don't wanna mess with Red Happy okay? You're gonna regret it, you hear what I'm saying?" he was met with a roar from Red Knife but managed to power through it, and with a brave roar he hit the dog with a blast of fire, knocking it out cold and causing Happy to turn back to his normal blue form.

"Good good, who let the dogs out." that was when Adam showed up, with Alejandro, Bridgette and Cody right behind him "Crappy reference I know but still, nice work. You okay?"

"Yeah I think so, thanks…" and then he passed out.

"Points for effort, not much else." he knelt down besides Mike "Hey Mike you okay? Can you stand?" he tried slapping him a few times.

"Yeah… Yeah…" Mike pulled himself to his feet, using his shirt to cover the black marks covering his shoulder thanks to the shadowy figure from within his mind.

' _He's hiding something, I'm sensing something coming from him and whatever it is it's dark and powerful.'_ Adam pulled Mike back to his feet ' _No focus Adam, dealing with Zash and Animus comes first and then I'll beat the shit out of whoever did that to him.'_

"Damn you Zash…" Animus, once again controlling Sonya's body, struggled to pull himself back to his feet "You'll pay for your betrayal with your life!"

"So you're gonna go full dragon now right?"

" **SILENCE HUMAN!"** with a mighty roar Animus emerged from Sonya's body and took on his true dragon form, that being a dragon covered in Stellanium crystals " **AND NOW ALL OF YOU WILL DIE!"** he started climbing the tower in order to find Zash and kill him for his betrayal.

Bridgette fell back in disbelief of what she was seeing "A dragon… a real life dragon… This is too much, even for me…"

"Hey remember what I said Bridge, you've gotta keep your chin up at times like this." without even batting an eye Adam flashed into his Cosmic Knight form "Come on guys, we've got a world to save. Let's show them what the power Cosmic can do."

"Not so fast." Natsu stood back up, with Sting doing the same "This is our world and we're gonna be the ones to save it."

"Believe what you want dipshit, now let's go kick some dragon ass already."

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Zash continued making his way to the top of the tower, only to find himself in a struggle to survive as he dodged several attempts by Animus to crush "Well greetings your majesty, it would seem to me that the form you currently reside is a bit lacking in terms of appreciation for royal architecture."

" **Enough of your games Zash, hand over the Dragon Cry this instant you traitorous wretch!"**

"But this transformation and now your goal has been achieved, isn't that right? Why continue to pursue the Dragon Cry?"

" **Because my true goal has not been achieved, what I desire is the ultimate freedom to do as I please!"**

"Well then allow me to grant you that freedom, how very fortunate that I just happened to have mine held!" Zash then proceeded to warp Animus' mind with his Black Magic, causing him to go on a rampage "You're free to rampage as much as you want, how much of that is all up to you now." and he continued on his way.

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Adam and the rest continued their climb up the tower, only to notice a large figure diving down towards them "Oh crap."

" **DIE!"** Animus charged down at them and unleashed his colorful Dragon's Roar blast at nearly point blank range.

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Zash continued his way to the top of the tower "By the looks of it it would seem that those meddlesome lapdogs of Aurora's are hell bent on getting in my way, I knew this would someday come to pass and therefore the time has come for me to unveil my secret weapons." he held up his magic ring "Come forth my Quartum Soldiers!" he proceeded to awaken his Quartum Army, an army of artificial soldiers made from Dragon Slayer Lacrimas, or Fourth Generation Dragon Slayers.

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Adam looked around as the Quartum Soldiers started to spring up from the ground all over the Kingdom of Stella "God it's like go go dancers at a Charlie Sheen party. Or Coachella. Or a rave."

"Are you done?" asked Sting.

"Yeah I'm out of f*cked up analogies, so we're gonna have to split up in order to take down the hookers and the pimp." he received several odd looks "My point is we're gonna have to split up for now, we'll split into two teams. Bridgette, Mike and Natsu are with me and we're gonna go stop Zash and Animus. Alejandro, Cody and Sting go back up Rogue and take care of whatever the hell these things are. Got it?"

"Got it, let's go!" so without any arguments, Sting grabbed Cody and Alejandro and pulled them back down towards the ground.

"Alright now that leaves us to take down a traitor and a dragon, and maybe something else if it rears its ugly head." Adam glanced back at Mike ' _The question is, when is it gonna make its move?'_

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Now covered in some light wounds, Rogue glanced around at the bodies of some of the Quartum Soldiers and those that were still standing ' _Well this isn't good, for every one that I take down two more pop up in its place. And on top of that there were hundreds of them to begin with, I'm gonna need some sort of plan.'_

" **White Flame Dragon's ROAR!"** that was when Sting arrived on the scene, using his new White Flame Dragon Mode to annihilate a good number of them "You need a helping hand partner?"

"You took your time getting back."

"Well I ran into Natsu and his new possy."

"Did you seriously just say possy?"

"Yeah that's right I know terms."

"That's not the point!"

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" _Quartum Soldiers, keep those worthless peons busy until they either give up or meet a gruesome and agonizing death!"_

Cody and Alejandro reached ground level, only to find that there were at least hundreds of Quartum Soldiers waiting for them "Okay that looks seriously unnerving, what the heck are these things?"

"They're Quartum Soldiers…" Sonya slowly lifted her head "They're artificial soldiers that were created by Zash, they're Fourth Generation Dragon Slayers."

"Wait, Fourth Generation? I didn't even know those were a thing!"

"Zash was able to create an entire army of artificial soldiers using Dragon Slayer Lacrimas at his disposal."

"Well then all of that effort is about to go to waste, are you ready Alejandro?"

"Indeed I am little one. **Lanza del Relampago!"** using his Crimson Jaguar powers and energy manipulation, Alejandro created a crimson colored energy javelin and fired it off at the Quartum Soldiers.

" **HERO'S BURST!"** pointing his Yin Yang staff forward, Cody unleashed a massive blast of Hero's Chi, colliding with the Quartum Soldiers and dealing their army a massive amount of damage, which was increased by the effects of Alejandro's Lanza del Relampago, effectively cutting their numbers in half "Nice work."

"The same to you amigo. I can imagine Gwen would be quite pleased to hear about your heroics when she returns from that race."

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Adam watched as Animus circled around for another attack and looked up towards the top of the tower "Zash is headed up there to unleash the power of the Dragon Cry, he's gonna try and destroy Fiore."

"Not if I can help it." with black energy radiating from his body, Mike suddenly burst upwards towards the top of the tower.

"I've got a bad feeling about this. Bridge you stick around and help Natsu with the dragon, I have something that I wanna check on." and so Adam burst upwards to follow Mike.

Bridgette watched him go "Just be careful." then she activated her own semi Cosmic Force form to help Natsu battle Animus.

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Adam continued his way up the tower, only to screech to a halt when he noticed a figure in front of him as the area was bathed in white light "Really again with this Mal?"

Sure enough, Mal stood before him looking as deadly serious as always, only with a white aura gathering around his body "Your confidence is leaps and bounds beyond what it was the last time we met each other like this."

"Like I told Mike, I'm done doubting myself, I'm done fearing the what ifs of whatever choices I make, no more living in self pity, no more hiding what I truly am. I'm a knight in shining armor protecting his king."

"...Remind me to come back to that part later but right now we have bigger cosmic fish to fry, the shadow is making its move right now."

"I saw those black marks Mike was trying to hide earlier, the power I sensed is nothing like anything that I've ever felt before. I don't know if I can stop him but I'll be damned if I don't give him one hell of a fight."

"And that's all the incentive that I need in order to do this." Mal slammed his fist into Adam's gut and the white aura surrounding him was transferred into Adam "I have a feeling you're gonna like this one."

"That depends, what the hell is it?"

"Energy from a Cosmic Lacrima of Light, you can manipulate pure energy thanks to absorbing this power now."

"So that means that-"

"You can steal techniques straight out Dragon Ball or Yu Yu Hakusho? Yes, yes you can and I have no doubt that you will."

"...Yeah this is gonna be one hell of a fun fight."

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Zash stood at the top of the tower ready to activate the power of the Dragon Cry "I besiege thine power Dragon Cry, unleash your divine power onto this world and use it to eradicate all of my enemies! The time is upon us oh long departed dragons, transform your anger and hatred into weapons of unmatched destruction and suffering!" he prepared to unleash the power of the Dragon Cry, only to freeze when he found a black claw like hand sticking out of his chest, drenched in his own blood "Wh-What… How could… this wasn't…" he slowly glanced back and his eyes widened "Y-You…"

Sure enough, it was Mike, his body radiating an even greater amount of black energy, his eyes having turned blood crimson with a malicious smirk plastered across his face " **Let me guess, you wanted to cover this entire continent in magic circles and get revenge on those you think wronged you. Well let me tell you something you power hungry fool, you don't know the true meaning of power. Here, let me give you a little taste of what true power can be like."** and with a simple wave of his hand he eradicated Zash with a black blast of energy, killing him on the spot and erasing his mind control magic " **And you think that you know what it means to have power."**

"You say that like you do." that was when Adam dropped down in front of him in his Cosmic Knight form his body radiating white energy "Looks like you managed to get one hell of a power up though Mike, I'd like to say that I'm proud of you but I know that's not you in there. So what do I call you then?"

" **A difficult question to answer. In one sense I am simply a means to an end, a way to make sure that the people of this universe fear and respect my masters, the Cosmic Elementals who understand the superiority that they hold over all mortals, but if you must refer to me as something then call me Sordibus. I need only to latch onto a suitable consciousness and then I can prove just how superior this power is!"**

"So that means that you latched onto Mal for years, and now you're doing the same by trying to make Mike into some kind of pawn. Which means that you killed my parents that night 11 years ago." Adam clenched his fists, his teeth grinding furiously, his body crackling with white electricity.

" **Indeed I did and I took a great deal of pleasure in hastening their journey to the Netherworld if for no other reason than to make you suffer. As for Mal, he had outlived his usefulness but never truly understood the power that I could grant him but Mike is a different story. His feelings of helplessness and hatred for his own weakness were all the incentive that I needed. Now we are one, a shadow whose purpose is to shape the destiny over all dimensions of this universe. Our first act for that to take place is to take your life here and now Adam, or should I call you by your original name: Tempestatis."**

"Does it look like I give a rat's ass what you call me? To protect my friends I'd throw all of it away without a second thought, so if it's a real fight you want then it's a real fight that you're gonna get. And now to prove my point. **Spirit Gun!"** he fired off a blast of energy from his fingertip.

" **Cosmic Shadow Slash!"** Sordibus summoned a sword made entirely of shadows and batted away the Spirit Gun, the force sending him skidding backwards a few feet, but he quickly morphed into a shadow and travelled along the blast and attacked Adam with a torrent of shadows, sending him crashing to the ground and leaving him bleeding heavily " **And that would be my Cosmic Shadow Waxwing Flash."**

"So what?" Adam bolted back to his feet, only to see that Sordibus had disappeared "Where the hell did he go?"

" **I'm right behind you. Cosmic Shadow Laser Circus!"** Sordibus rose up from where he had merged with Adam's own shadow and fired a barrage of black shadow lasers, dealing Adam a great number of wounds and knocking Ascalon out of his grip " **So it would seem that that everyone was wrong about you, you're nothing but talk after all. You're nothing but that same scared little brat just like you've always been."**

"Think whatever the hell you want."

" **I'm only speaking the truth, not that you could be any match for me even if you did have the power to backup all of your irritating talk."**

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Bridgette stopped herself from free falling after an attack by Animus by driving an ice sword into the side of the tower, only to look up "Okay that's not good."

"The staff's magic energy is going out of control?" Natsu guessed "So what the hell are Adam and Mike doing up there?"

"I don't know but we can't waste anymore time, Adam and Mike can take care of themselves but we still have those Quartum Soldiers to worry about. I'm gonna try and slow down the dragon as much as I can while you go help the others with the soldiers."

"Say what? You'll get yourself killed, I'm the Dragon Slayer so if anyone should take on the actual dragon then it's me!"

"Don't underestimate me Natsu, I may not be as strong as Adam and I may not be a fighter but I'll do everything in my power to protect my friends!" and as if on cue Bridgette's eyes turned a deep ocean blue as she awakened her own Cosmic Force "Now go."

"...Just don't do anything stupid like I would." and so Natsu started free falling back down towards the ground.

"I can't make any promises like that.

" **GET OUT MY WAY WENCH!"** Animus shot forward and bit down on Bridgette's arm as he dragged her down towards the ground " **The staff belongs to me and me alone you human wench, you shall not lay your hands upon it!"**

"You think so huh? **Ice Demon Zero Longsword!"** Bridgette slashed at Animus using a sword made of ice, causing him to throw her into a nearby wall, but she recovered in time to avoid being crushed to death as she raced Animus down the side of the tower.

" **So it is as I had anticipated girl, you and that boy with the sword both wield the power of the Cosmic Elementals do you not?"**

"What does that matter to you?"

" **Vermin like you truly believe that you can compare your strength to that of our mighty race of dragons? We already fell from power thanks to those pathetic Dragon Slayers and now you want to imitate those wretches? Well now is the time for you to see just how inferior you truly are, you shall feel the full ferocity of a dragon's FURY!"** and on that fury filled note, Animus hit Bridgette with his Dragon's Roar at point blank range, engulfing her in a massive explosion.

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By this point, Sordibus had grabbed Adam by the throat and was choking the life out of him with a sadistic smile on his face " **It's hard to believe that this pitiful excuse for a host actually bothers to look up to you, you're just pathetic. It won't be long until my shadows have eaten you away, once they've had their fill this world will be free of you."** he dropped him into a pool of his own shadows " **You're going to simply vanish, forced to sleep in eternal darkness. Do you have any last words before you meet your fate?"**

"...Actually I've got a few that come to mind. **Lightning King Iron Hammer!"** Adam quickly summoned Ascalon towards him and slashed Sordibus across the chest with the blade, causing shadows to ooze out of the wound in place of blood.

" **What? But you had no strength left, you couldn't even stand!"**

"Do you really believe that? I knew you'd be arrogant but that's just stupid, now take this as a warning and get the hell out of my friend's body before I take my new light powers and make you walk towards it."

" **Do you really believe that I'm going to just up and leave his body like that? What sort of fool do you take me for?"**

"Do you really think that Mike is as weak as you claim him to be? Mike isn't just some weak little punk, he's my best friend and as his friend it's my job to protect him from a worthless piece of trash like you! NOW GET OUT OF HIS HEAD!" his body began radiating white energy and began crackling with electricity as his skin turned pure white "Wind, Lightning, Fire and now add Light to that list."

" **For elements? But how can that be?"**

"You should already know the answer to that. I started out with Wind and Lightning, Mal gave me some of his fire powers during the battle with Diagon and Vilgax, and only a few minutes ago he gave me some of his Light energy for the sole purpose of kicking your ass all the way out of Mike's mind."

" **Such feats are impressive to say the least, but that's still nowhere near enough for you to defeat me."**

"We'll see about that." and then Adam suddenly evaporated into pure light.

' _ **He disappeared? No, he became one with the light being radiated by the Dragon Cry.**_ **How dare you use my own power against me! Show yourself!"**

"If it's your power then get over here and prove it! **Hyper Tornado!"** Adam burst up from the light behind Sordibus and hit him in the back with a Hyper Tornado to the back, sending him crashing to the ground.

" **If that's what you wish then so be it!"** Sordibus disappeared into the light being radiated by the Dragon Cry, resulting in two white streaks of energy clashing across the light, the clash spreading all around the rooftop before climbing up the side of the tower even further.

This ended when Adam suddenly grabbed Sordibus from within his streak of light and yanked him out of it "And now for the coup de grace, which is really inaccurately named considering what I plan to do to you." he threw Sordibus high into the air and cupped his hands at his side, building energy between his palms with properties of Wind, Lightning, Fire and Light "Oh man this is gonna be good. **Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HAAAAAAA!"** he fired an energy blast upwards based on the signature technique of the Dragon Ball franchise, the blast being visible all throughout the Kingdom of Stella as it engulfed Sordibus in a massive explosion.

When the blast finally subsided, Sordibus fell to the ground in a heap, his hold over Mike's body beginning to flicker along with his black aura " **You… You arrogant little brat… You've really done it now."**

"I should be saying that to you. Just give it up already, you've lost."

" **For now perhaps, I suppose I expected too much from the boy as he is right now. No matter though, in time I will rise again and then you will know true pain and suffering the likes of which you could never even imagine. I can promise you that much."** and with that, the black aura disappeared as Mike fell back, unconscious.

' _He'll be back, and I'll be sure to be ready.'_ Adam powered down to his normal form and breathed a short sigh ' _Maybe it's better to conserve my energy until I fight Animus, if I use that transformation too much then I might end up tiring myself out too much to be able to finish that fight.'_

"Adam…?" Mike slowly opened his eyes and tried to sit up "Ow… pain… everything hurts a lot… I haven't felt this much pain since I joined you and Alejandro in that pilates class that one time."

"Yeah that one hurt all of us, it's a memory that I've tried really hard to suppress. So how are you holding up, you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah… No I can't even move my neck without it hurting. Hey Adam why am I in so much pain? Did Zash really hurt me that bad?"

"Dude Zash is dead. _He doesn't remember what happened? I guess it was the shadow in total control over his body.'_

"So… you killed him?"

"...Yeah I totally wasted him like he was a dirty hooker. Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go earn my new title as a Dragon Slayer." and then he blitzed away.

"So… do I just lay here until you come back and get me? Adam? Hello? I've got a serious itch and I can't scratch it." he glanced over to see Animus swallowing the Dragon Cry for the sake of its magic power "Uh oh

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While one battle had already ended, another one was looking quite grim.

Having taken the full force of Animus hitting her with his Dragon's Roar, Bridgette was considerably wounded and now was free falling towards the ground "So this is it… I go out fighting a dragon… Sorry Adam, everyone, I did the best that I could… But in the end… I guess it just wasn't enough…"

"Don't sell yourself short, you did a great job out there."

Bridgette opened her eyes, and they shot wide "Adam?"

Sure enough, Adam had arrived on the scene, holding Bridgette in his arms bridal style in an awesome display, still in his normal state "Sup? Sorry I took so long to get here, I had a quick loose end to tie up. But on the plus side, now I can use techniques straight out of Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho so that's awesome."

"And the Dragon Cry?"

"...Oh shit I knew I forgot something."

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" **AT LAST!"** Animus burst down to the ground with the Dragon Cry in his teeth " **HEAR ME DRAGON CRY, LET THE ANGER OF EVERY DRAGON FLOW THROUGH ME TO DESTROY THIS WORLD AND ALL WHO LIVE IN IT!"** he was bathed in a golden light as several magic circles formed in the sky and rained down a large number of destructive blasts of energy, Animus himself turning a deep shade of purple " **The war between dragons and those vile humans ends here and now, the era of dragons has been reborn and WE SHALL REIGN SUPREME OVER THIS WORLD!"**

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Hisui, the princess of Fiore, observed the magic circles covering the sky over the entirety of the kingdom of Fiore "Those magic circles, what are they father?"

"This could only be the work of the Dragon Cry." Toma's expression was one of visible fear and concern "Hisui listen to me, we must evacuate everyone in Crocus immediately."

"But father…"

"We have to hurry, the fury and hatred of all of the dragons is about to rain down upon the entire kingdom itself."

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"Please stop this Your Majesty, I beg of you!" Sonya rushed up to Animus and stood in between him and the others.

" **Get out of my way Sonya!"** Animus was outright snarling at her.

"No I will not move from this spot, you have done more than enough harm to the good people of the kingdom of Stella! Their souls are longing to cry out in joy, they're yearning to shine as brightly as the stars that illuminate the night sky. Your soul used to shine Your Majesty but it fell to darkness and you're trapped inside of a castle. You were once so kind hearted, but those days have come and gone."

" **...Get out of my way Sonya, before I do something we will both regret."** he used his tail to shove her out of the way " **All who defy me shall die by the talons of a dragon!"** he let out a primal roar.

"You're wrong." Adam slowly made his way forward and motioned for Bridgette and the others to get further away from the scene, his body crackling with electricity as a pure white aura flared around his body "People like Natsu or Sting and Rogue never lived to kill dragons, and I never cared about stuff like that no matter how badass that seemed to me when I was a teenager fantasizing about pictures of Cana Alberona, or pictures of girls Hinata Hyuga or Ino Yamanaka from Naruto, or to Kagome from Inuyasha, god I love the internet. But not even those are reasons for why I live. I live for the sake of my friends, my purpose in life is to protect them so that they can live their own lives. That's why I live! That's why I fight! That's why I can and will survive whatever you throw at me! AND THAT'S WHY I'M GONNA TAKE YOU DOWN RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW!" with a furious roar, he was engulfed in a blinding white light. When the light dissipated, it revealed Adam, his eyes electric blue but his hair now a shade of silver with crimson stripes running through it, lightning bolt marks running down his right arm with a tornado mark on his left arm, the image of a flame appearing on his right leg and the symbol of a brightly shining light on his left leg. He took a moment to get a grip on his new transformation and smirked ' _Looks like my Cosmic Knight form has evolved again, and that means that this is gonna be one hell of a fun ride.'_

" **Do you really believe that such a form will be enough for you to stop me?"**

"We're about to find out." so on that short note, Adam charged at Animus and dealt him a sharp uppercut kick to one of his horns.

" **DAMN YOU! NOW YOUR DEATH HAS COME!"** Animus attacked Adam by firing a barrage of energy blasts before finishing the assault with his Dragon's Roar, engulfing Adam in a massive explosion " **You are nothing but a weak and miserable human! Did you honestly think that the likes of you could stop me?!"**

"I did and I still do. And I don't think I can, I know I can." when the smoke cleared slightly, it revealed Adam alive and well, his body crackling with electricity, the only damage that he had sustained being his shredded martial arts gi **(go back to the chapter Road Trip)** , revealing his numerous scars across his chest and torso "You're going down lizard scales."

" **No it can't be, you shouldn't have been able to survive that! What are you? What the hell are you?!"**

"Your destruction, that's what!" with a mighty roar that shattered the entire mountain beneath him, Adam burst upwards and dealt Animus a severe uppercut to the jaw, sending him hurtling into the air, before following up with a vicious barrage of attacks that involved him blitzing left and right, dealing one attack after another.

" **Now I see, now I understand who and what you truly are. You are neither human nor dragon, you are something much much more. You are the reincarnation of the Cosmic Elemental Fusion, the Warrior of the Hurricane, you are Tempestatis-"**

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I GIVE A DAMN?!" Adam burst upwards until he was nearly as high as the magic circles lining the skies and he cupped his hands at his side, Wind, Lightning, Fire and Light energy building between his palms "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU CALL ME BECAUSE I WOULD THROW IT ALL AWAY IN AN INSTANT IF IT MEANT THAT I COULD PROTECT MY FRIENDS!"

" **DIE!"** Animus transferred the power of the magic circles in order to increase his own power even further, and he charged at Adam at full speed, intent on ripping him apart with his bare draconic claws.

"THE FRIENDS THAT I KEEP BY MY SIDE ARE MY REASON FOR LIVING, IF IT WASN'T FOR THEM THEN MY LIFE WOULDN'T HAVE ANY MEANING! IF ANYONE HURTS MY FRIENDS THEN I'LL SEND THEM STRAIGHT TO HELL! **KA… ME… HA… ME… HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"** with a mighty roar as he harnessed every last ounce of strength that he was able to muster, Adam fired a full power Kamehameha blast, engulfing Animus at point blank range, the explosion that followed lighting up the entire sky and wiping out all of the magic circles unleashed by the Dragon Cry, as well as a very large majority of the forest surrounding the kingdom. When the smoke eventually cleared, Adam was revealed to be lying on the ground in an exhausted heep, near where the body of Animus, or rather what was left of it, had fallen to the ground, scorched and nearly ripped apart after taking the full force of the Kamehameha blast.

Sonya slowly approached the body of Animus, grabbed the Dragon Cry, and then proceeded to shatter it against a piece of Stellanium, wiping out any remaining trace of its magic power once and for all, as well as deactivating Zash's Quartum Soldiers "At long last, this horrible nightmare ends."

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Cody shared a look with Alejandro as he watched the Quartum Soldiers deactivate, and he looked up at the sky and gave a small smile "Way to go Adam, you really are full of surprises aren't you?"

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"It would seem that the magic circles have disappeared." Hisui noted "I suppose this would mean that Natsu and his companions were successful."

"Of that I have no doubt in my mind." Toma looked up at the sky and let a small smile grace his lips "You did it Aurora, even if not directly you saved me once again."

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Morning came, and the sun was just beginning to rise over the Kingdom of Stella after all of the carnage had at last died down.

Bridgette was searching through the rubble until she noticed something "Adam!"

Sure enough, Adam pulled himself out of the rubble, still covered in wounds "So that's what it feels like to kill a dragon, well Bridge I've got only got one other thing to say about that."

"And what's that?"

"That it's the most f*cking awesome thing that I've ever done! Come on bring on another one of those bad boys, no bring on Acnologia himself! Yeah that's right, bring on every mother f*cker the 10 dimensions has to offer! I'll face every single one of them and then I'll kick their asses to kingdom come!"

"...You know you never cease to amaze me, and I love that about you." Bridgette wiped away a few tears and threw her arms around him "I really love that about you, and it's one of the reasons why I love you."

"Yeah I know, me too Bridge, me too." he glanced over to see Natsu, Cody and the rest of them coming over to meet them.

Animus could feel what was left of his body beginning to fade away, his voice soft " **I feel strange… I'm starting to fade away… I'm dying aren't I?"**

"Animus… I can't thank you enough for all that you've done for me, for all of these years of you giving me guidance." Sonya gave him a small smile.

" **My dear Sonya… this is the first time… I've ever seen you smile… it's truly… the most beautiful thing… I've ever seen…"** and with that, Animus faded away into the afterlife with the rest of his dragon brethren.

"And it's also the first time I've seen a dragon cry, I will miss you my dearest friend." she wiped away a few tears.

Adam glanced over and noticed something "Hey guys check it out, I think something's going on with the Dragon Cry."

"So it is." Sonya held out a hand as magic power emerged from the shattered remains of the Dragon Cry, only for it to morph into a red ribbon.

"So what then, was that the original form of the Dragon Cry or something?"

"This was once a ribbon that I used to tie my hair." she looked up at the skies "Animus is gone, although in reality I had lost him many years ago. He lost himself deep into the darkness that comes with greed and power, as well as anger, fear and deception. He caused so much pain and his people were forced to suffer terribly. Maybe he was always evil, but for so long I had cared for him as my very own flesh and blood. I know now that all this time I was being used by him for his own goals, but the thought that I had never been alone made me happy. I only wish that things between us could've been different, that we could've cared for and supported each other unconditionally, that we had the chance to be truly close… that we would've been able to laugh and love the way that you do."

"I don't think that's it. He did come back to his senses at the very end didn't he? I guess that way he could die happy."

"I suppose so. You freed him and brought back the Animus that I once knew, and for that I am forever grateful. As a token of my gratitude, please allow me to present you with this." she gripped the red ribbon and it suddenly morphed into a white cloak with a black stripe on the back of it "This is the Dragon's Cloak, I was able to create it using some of the residual magic energy left over inside of me from the time that Animus spent inside of my body, and now I'm passing it onto you."

"Huh. Let's check that out." Adam donned the Dragon's Cloak and felt himself surrounded by yet another white glow "Nice."

"And there is more." Sonya summoned a piece of armor consisting of a metal breastplate, with a high armored collar and plated shoulderguards with each side being composed of four plates, the armor's waist guard being composed of three plates, each held up by a simple belt "This armor is composed of pure Stellanium that has been infused with your cosmic power, and as such you are the only person fit to wear it."

Adam strapped this on as well "So the Hurricane Gauntlets, the Wind Stormer boots, the sword Ascalon, the Dragon's Cloak, and now the Starlight armor."

"A fitting name."

"And if this shit doesn't mean I'm a full fledged Cosmic Knight then I don't know what the hell will."

"How about this for starters." using his fire powers, Natsu burned the Fairy Tail mark onto the back of the Dragon's Cloak and onto the front of his Starlight armor "Consider yourself an honorary member of Fairy Tail, and that goes for the rest of you guys too. I'll put in a good word with gramps after my year of training is up and I finally head back to the guild."

"Thanks for the offer but I've got my own world that needs its own little dose of magic, and we're just the people to do it. Speaking of which we'd better head back, there's something that I've gotta do."

"Gonna tell your buddy about that shadow dude?" he found out in between chapters in case you're wondering.

"Yep, and that's something that I should've done a long time ago. But seriously, if you ever need anything then don't hesitate to call." he handed Natsu an Utrom Communicator "Use that thing to call me if you're ever in a jam, now take care and show Zeref and Acnologia what Fairy Tail is made of." and with that, Adam, Bridgette, Cody, Alejandro and a severely wounded Mike (who still couldn't move) took their leave back to their dimension.

"The same to you… my friends."

 **A/N:**

 **This is the second and final based on the Fairy Tail movie Dragon Cry, which was cut into two chapters so that I could get the first one out sooner, but later I had decided to just merge Parts II and III into one, with guest appearances by Sting and Rogue of Sabertooth (and Frosh and Lector by extension) in place of the sub plot that featured Gajeel's group. Sorry this one took so long to get out originally, my last few weeks of my first semester of college have been absolute hell.**

 **The flashback scene with Adam and Devin takes place a year before the events of the Rise of an Underdog, and it's based on one of the flashbacks from the second Bleach movie, The Diamond Dust Rebellion. It's mainly meant to show something that I never have before in any of these Total Drama fics: Adam crying. Keep in mind that in chapter 3 in his flashback of how he became friends with Devin he said that his tears had all dried up, but this chapter shows him crying, which shows him being able to let out his emotions, which is a huge step in his character development arc.**

 **Since this takes place during the year after the war with Tartaros, only Natsu and Happy appear from the Fairy Tail guild, with the roles of Gray, Lucy, Erza and Wendy being filled by Adam, Mike, Cody, Bridgette and Alejandro.**

 **In addition to that, I added Sting and Rogue from Sabertooth, and Lector and Frosch in addition to them obviously, in order to fill the roles played by Gajeel, Levy and Panther Lily in the movie. I mean granted they only appeared in one scene but next chapter will be the final battle so of course they're gonna get some good parts right? Also, I figured that Sting needed some kind of power up to defeat Doll but using Dragon Force, seeing how Dragon Force probably would've killed the guy , and so I had to come up with something entirely new from canon in the form of White Flame Dragon Mode. Plus you've gotta admit, that's really awesome.**

 **It didn't occur to me that I had failed to show any indications of Mike's other personalities until I decided to have Mike finally do something noteworthy while they're in this dimension, and so I decided to give them a little bit of spotlight, at least until Sugar Honey Iced Tea (Madagascar reference) hits the inter dimensional fan in one of the most colossal ways possible.**

 **Mike getting possessed by the shadow like Mal was for all that time is based on the same thing happening to Rogue during the Grand Magic Games arc, and in the process him being able to overcome it allows him to awaken his light and shadow powers, due to Mal transferring their fire powers to Adam when he and Ben were fighting against Vilgax. Expect more of that in the next story in this series.**

 **Speaking of which, the scene in Adam's subconscious where Mal gives him his new Light/ Energy powers (which allows him to use powers, thus granting him the ability to use techniques straight out of anime like Dragon Ball Z and Yu Yu Hakusho, which are awesome by the way).**

 **I know that originally the Dragon Cry staff was the ribbon of that girl Sonya but I figured that it would be cool if the final part of Adam's knight armor, that being a kickass hood and cape (which is dubbed here as the Dragon's Cloak since it's infused with the residual power of Animus, a dragon), was mainly formed from that ribbon so that a small part of Fairy Tail would always stay with him. That and the idea of him having a hood and cape like that was an idea I got from seeing the Marvel hero Moon Knight, he just looks so badass with that so I thought why not give Adam a cape too, plus I even gave it the symbol of Fairy Tail to make him an honorary member of the guild according to Natsu. As for the actual body armor made of Stellanium that he got from Sonya towards the end, that's meant to cover his torso, that's based on the first model of Erza's Heart Kreuz Armor from before the 7 year time skip.**

 **Adding onto the point of Adam using techniques from other anime, the techniques that Alejandro used like El Directo, La Muerte, Descarron, Bala, Cero, Cero Oscuras, Lanza del Relámpago, etc. These are all based on Espada, Arrancar and Fullbring techniques from the anime Bleach. Again, I needed replacements for the Dragon Slayer techniques and I figured that techniques with names in Spanish would be most fitting for Alejandro since he's Latino. But I did keep the Crimson Drive and alter some of the White Dragon Slayer abilities like the Holy Nova while altering it based on his Crimson Jaguar abilities, and thus the Holy Nova becomes the Crimson Nova.**

 **As for Cody and Bridgette, those two seem okay in my opinion for two reasons:**

 **Cody doesn't use Dragon Slayer techniques and I tried to give him a few more techniques based around the Hero's Chi since Hero's Light is based on another Seven Deadly Sins technique called Revenge Counter. These would include Hero's Impact (based on Loke's Regulus Impact), Hero's Counter (based on Meliodas' Full Counter), Hero's Burst (based on Erza's Fairy Burst in her Armadura Fairy Armor), and Hero's Slicer (based on Erza's Photon Slicer in her Morning Star Armor), all of which have been enhanced by Aurora awakening his Second Origin before the events of chapter 10 to the point where he's pretty much as intimidating as Erza when she released her Second Origin during the Grand Magic Games. I'll get him to show more of that next chapter.**

 **I gave Bridgette abilities based on Juvia's Water Magic and Gray's Ice Demon Slayer Magic, and since we don't know a lot about Demon Slayer Magic I think that it's possible for more than one person to use the same type of magic, at least for now.**


	14. Into the Void

**(Takes place between during chapters 24-25 of the Ridonculous Underdogs)**

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" _Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the Wind and Lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take both their powers for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallium was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see that Metallum would fall for his betrayal. However, that is not the whole story. What very few are aware of is that there are two other Cosmic Elementals who refused to take part in the war, two who refused to take sides because they were unsure of how the evolution or mortals would turn out in the end. These two were known as Illuminare and Tenebris, the Cosmic Elementals of Light and Darkness. As the war between their fellow Cosmic Elementals raged on and ravaged the universe, they had retreated into the shadows to observe how the mortals would react. They had wondered if the mortals of the lower realms of each universe were creatures that were truly deserving of the protection of the gods. I have observed the dealings than I would care to count. Mortals thrive, they quarrel, they perish, and they repeat this same cycle time and time again on an endless loop. At that time it seemed to me that for them to keep doing this would be the height of futility. I had even gone so far as to wonder what sense there was in protecting such flawed beings when they would consistently repeat the same tragic mistakes time and time again without showing any signs of developing, and ponder if it were to be more merciful on our part to put an end to such hopeless cycles once and for all. However, after the fated battle between Metallum and Tempestatis had at last come to a close and the mortals began to rebuild the remains of their civilizations across the universe, that was when Metallum appeared and offered a solution to their dilemma. They would pool their power into one point and create a warrior that was mixed of both light and darkness, intended to follow the spirit of Tempestatis for as long as he reincarnated through over one hundred lifetimes in over one hundred different races. Now the mission of the Warrior of the Hurricane has become much more grave, and if both Metallum and his warrior of darkness are not slain then the legacy of the Cosmic Elementals will be forever tarnished and lost to the memory of time."_

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Mike sat on the large hill outside of the city, his mind drifting with the wind ' _Days as peaceful like this might not last forever.'_

"So did you manage to get Zoey off of your back?" Adam appeared on the hill and laid down next to him in a nonchalant sort of way.

"Yeah, I just told him that you dragged me to another pilates class."

"Hey for the last time that was not my fault!" they glared at each other for a moment before the both burst out laughing.

"Man it feels like it's been ages since you and I were able to just hang out in peace like this without a care in the world, and of all times right before we might end up fighting for the fate of the world and maybe even the entire universe and we can't even tell anybody. Which reminds me, you told Devin about Mal and all of that stuff?"

"Yep, he was actually pretty chill about it. He continues to surprise me both in good and bad ways, but mostly good."

"I see, that's good."

"...You know you're the only one left who really gets it Mike."

"Gets what?"

"You know damn well what I mean. They just don't get it, not even the likes of Bridgette, Cody or Alejandro get the weight on my shoulders. I feel it every single day even now, before I go to bed and when I wake up in the morning and it even haunts my dreams. Sometimes I can only stop and wonder, do I have what it takes to do this?"

"...Wow, I had no idea that this whole thing with Mal and Sordibus was still getting to you as bad as this."

"No that part I pretty much got, it's the whole thing with Metallum and these other two Cosmic Elementals that's f*cking me up so bad. Metallum was insanely powerful and he nearly killed me and Bridgette, if it wasn't for Sir George then he would've succeeded. The problem is that I fought him with everything that I had and I was barely strong enough to put a dent in him even after I transformed. And now that I know that there are two more out there that are even more powerful than him… it's messing with my head. They've gotta be stopped one way or another and I feel like I'm the only one who has a chance but I can feel the pressure crushing me over and over again. Look Mike this fight is gonna be a huge one and even I might not make it out alive, if you wanna back out then I won't stop you."

"Is that what you really believe? Do you really think that I would just up and abandon you like that now of all times? Did I really spend the last two days letting Aurora unlock my Second Origin just to back out now?" he summoned a white light in his left fist and a sword made of black energy in his right hand "Do you really think that I did all of that just so that I could back out now? Sure it's all really scary but you're my best friend Adam and it's been that way for our entire lives, you've always been there for me so now I'm gonna be there for you."

"...Thanks Mike, really. So what's next on our path of the power cosmic?"

"Aurora said to give you some time to deal with this and then meet her at the Sanctum, she has one last thing that we have to do before we're ready to fight Metallum again."

"Alright, let's do it my friend." he grabbed onto Mike by the shoulder "Hey by the way did you and Cody and Alejandro do the thing with Shelley that I asked you to do while I went over and saw Devin in India?"

"Oh yeah, it was awesome."

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Aurora glanced back and noticed Adam and Mike standing behind her, the former being fully equipped with his Hurricane Gauntlets, Windstormer Boots, Dragon's Cloak and his Starlight Armor with Ascalon strapped to his side, and the latter wearing a simple white martial arts gi with a black belt, black shin guards and black shoes "I take it you accomplished what you needed to?"

Adam nodded "Yeah I did, and to be honest it felt pretty damn good to finally get that weight lifted off of my shoulders. Now enough wasting time Aurora, we've got work to do and it's gotta be done now."

"I agree but you must not be so hasty, what I'm about to tell you is actually rather heavy. But before that…" she opened a portal and reached into it, and then pulled out Alejandro and the others by the bull necklace "As much as I hate to interrupt your training, you should hear this as well." she pulled something else out of the portal in the form of what looked like some sort of symbol "This is the symbol of the Masters of the Mystic Arts Adam, you and Mike will need it to prove yourselves as allies when you reach it."

"Reach what?"

"A place you should know very well… the planet of Ostium."

"Ostium, why does that name sound so familiar?" Adam paused, and he and Alejandro shared a very long look "Oh. OH. Oh… shit."

"You once journeyed to the planet of Ostium through artificial means along with Alejandro here, which is one of the main reasons as to why I brought him here. Ostium is mainly intended to serve as a passageway into the abyss between dimensions, Adam you once were sent there during your battle with Vilgax and Diagon but you could feel the effects of travelling there through man made means. It is not for the weak, those weak hearted would succumb to the inevitable insanity within mere moments."

"Yeah it felt like I was reliving the emotional turmoil of the night that I lost my parents coupled with a gallon of LSD out of a milk jug. It f*cks you up man, it just f*cks you up bad."

"As interesting as that analogy is, it does hold a great deal of accuracy. As I was saying, Ostium serves as a gateway to into the void between dimensions. That is where the two you seek currently reside."

"You mean Illuminare and Tenebris, the Cosmic Elementals of Light and Darkness."

"Yes. Once you meet them there, they will judge you and if they see you as worthy then they will grant you their Cosmic Lacrimas, all four of them, two Light and two Darkness."

"...Looks like we've got another hell of a wild ride waiting for us now don't we?"

Mike nodded "Yeah I guess we do, I feel like Ben 10 now."

"Dude Ben 10's got nothing on us now. Now come on, we're gonna go and save the entire universe." he turned back to Bridgette and gently put his hands on her shoulders "Well I guess we've gotta get going but I'll be back with my head held high, I promise."

"I'll be waiting." Bridgette gave him a quick peck on the lips "Just don't do anything really stupid okay?"

"I can make no such promise."

"I didn't expect you to."

"Glad to see that you know me as well as you claim. Alright Aurora, we're ready to do what we've gotta do."

"Remember that time passes differently on Ostium in comparison to this planet, 1 hour on that planet is 1 entire day here, but due to the power of Cosmic within the both of you as well as these charms that you have, you won't age physically." Aurora handed Adam and Mike both mystic bracelet charms to prevent them from aging "Just be sure to keep that in mind, and above all be sure to be careful."

"We can make no such promises."

"Of course you can't. After spending as many eons observing the universe as they have, there is no way to tell what side Illuminare and Tenebris will take in the Cosmic scheme of things. If the two of them judge you as worthy then they will give you their Cosmic Lacrimas, but if not then you will perish."

"Then that's a chance that we'll have to take."

"I anticipated such a response. I will open a portal that will take you to Ostium, once there you will meet the Gatekeeper who will give you a test and if you pass then he will open a gate for you into the void between dimensions and once you are there you will find them and be judged by them. That is all I can do for you, from this point forward the rest is up to you."

"I gotcha Aurora, and thanks." he sat down in one of the chairs in the corner and motioned for the others to do the same "You know it feel like just yesterday I was coming to you with no idea how much about myself and my destiny I still needed to learn."

"It might as well have been yesterday, it was only about two months ago. But still in just two short months I've done what I can to honor the memory of my student and guide you through the shadows, tried to shed as much light as I could on what you could be, but now you've gone beyond even what I had anticipated to be possible. And as I'm sure that you're already aware by now, there are times when the more you see the less clear some things may become."

"I thought I knew all of it, I thought I was just some little punk who got dealt an unfortunate hand by fate. It took my best friend, it took my family, and it even scarred both my body and my spirit. But now I feel like maybe I was chosen by the universe for a reason, like Tempestatis needed someone who would never give up to carry out his legacy and make sure the universe is a safer place."

"Your parents would be proud of you, especially your mother. She was actually a personal friend of mine."

Adam's head snapped up "Wait a second, Aurora are you saying that my mother was a Master of the Mystic Arts like you and Carlos?"

"No, she was actually a friend from high school. We met in a book club."

"Oh. Well that was kind of anticlimactic."

"Assumptions can lead to death in this line of work. But regardless, now both you and Mike are on your own as you fumble around between dimensions and find the answers that you both desperately need."

"So that's it then."

"Yes it is."

"Mike, are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Mike readied his martial arts gi.

"Alright, just give me a minute." Adam turned to the other three "You guys just be careful while we're gone, train hard and stay true to who you are. I don't know when we're gonna be back but we will be back, that much I can promise you." he turned to Cody first "Listen to me little brother, keep training hard with the Hero's Chi, have some faith in yourself and be sure that you can protect Gwen with your life. Got it?"

Cody nodded "Got it."

"Good." then he turned to Alejandro "As far as I'm concerned and as far as Carlos is concerned, at least what I know about how he'd feel, you've already done more than enough to redeem yourself for what you did in Total Drama World Tour, but if you still wanna make things right then do this for me. Keep training, protect these two, and do some good."

Alejandro nodded "I understand mi amigo."

"Good, I'm counting on you." then he turned to Bridgette and gently put both of his hands on her shoulders "It's time for me to get going but I promise you, one way or another we will make it back here. I don't know when, I don't know how, but I know that will."

Bridgette gave him a gentle smile "And I'll be waiting."

"Alright, I think I'm ready now."

"So you are." Aurora snapped her fingers and a white colored portal opened "I wish the two of you the best of luck."

"Thanks again Aurora, for everything." so with a final sign of a finger from both of them (the finger symbol that they introduce in episode 48 of Fairy Tail), Adam and Mike both jumped into the portal.

Aurora then proceeded to seal the portal up once they had gone through all the way "No matter where they may be, they will always be watching over you. That is what that symbol means and what it will always mean."

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The planet of Ostium was once home to the Osmostians, a strong and proud race of warriors, until the Cosmic war thousands of years prior, when Metallum and Tempestatis, in their previous battle, had rendered the population of the planet all but extinct, as the sun of the planet had been obliterated, which left survival on the planet next to impossible.

This is what Adam and Mike saw when they arrived on the planet through the portal, which promptly shut behind them, leaving them alone on the path up the mountain, the only visible landmark remaining on this planet "How much strife this one planet must've endured, it's beyond anything I could ever imagine."

"Well if you could imagine it then I'm sure that you would've by now." Mike pointed out "So this is it then, there's no going back."

"No there isn't. Let's do this Mike, just you and me again just like old times."

"Yeah, who would've thought that it would be you and me on a desolate planet void of any life, travelling to the void in between dimensions, trying to find two cosmic monsters and convince them to grant us the power that we need in order to save the world."

"Not me I can assure you of that much, but what's really crazy is that now it feels like this is the norm for us. Or at least for me."

"So you've come…" a lone figured appeared before the two of them, his appearance concealed by a black cloak "Welcome, I have been anticipating your arrival. Mike, son of Lucy and Steve. Adam, son of Timothy and Kate. I have waited for many years for you two to arrive."

"So you know who we are?"

"It is my curse to know all who journey here, as well as all who bare the power of a Cosmic Lacrima."

"And you are?"

"My name is not important, all you must understand before you proceed is how this planet became as isolated and uninhabitable as it is now. However, if you must address me as something then address me as Gatekeeper. I am an Osmostian from many eons ago, the last of my kind whose purpose was to prove peace and stability throughout the universe. But alas, the civil war amongst the Cosmic Elementals led to Metallum, the one you know as the Cosmic Elemental of Metal, wiping out my kind as he saw them as a threat to his conquest of the 10 dimensions and the rest of the universe. I survived, but at the same time I was cursed to watch over the Cosmic Door of Destiny, the gateway to the void between dimensions, in search of the two that could end this war that has raged for eons, whether it be by saving the universe or destroying it."

"We came here in order to pass through this doorway."

"I am aware, but at the same time I should warn you, it extracts a heavy price for you to travel through it."

"And we're prepared for it."

"We all think that at first, and we are all wrong. But regardless, if you wish to travel to the void and meet the Cosmic Elementals of Light and Darkness then follow me." and so he walked up the path without another word.

Adam and Mike shared a mute glance, and then proceeded to follow him "So you've been all alone on this planet for thousands of years?"

"I have, waiting for the inevitable day in which someone would come in search of the Cosmic Door of Destiny. After Metallum wiped out my kind and I was the only one to survive through sheer luck, I was cast out and banished by him here, forced to spend eternity guiding others to a gate that I myself can never use, for any mere mortal who uses the gateway will be instantly turned to dust and scattered throughout the void between dimensions, doomed to suffer in eternal damnation for all of eternity. I cannot fathom how many times I have wished to do just that, for it would be better than the pain of isolation that I have endure up until now."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because I knew that the day would come when there would be at least one warrior who could pass through this gate, and if one can pass through the gate then that means that they are the warrior destined to defeat Metallum and restore peace to the universe. And once they pass through this gate, my purpose will be fulfilled, and I will at long last be able to move on into the afterlife and reunite with my family." he led them up the path along the side of the mountain until they came to the end of the path, which was blocked by a large stone gateway standing in front of them "What you seek lies in front of you."

"This is the Cosmic Door of Destiny?"

"And the price is a heavy one, for if those who are worthy enter it then they will spend eternity in their own madness."

"...Then we just have to be sure that we're both strong enough to pass through the gate. Now come on Mike, let's go." Adam suddenly grabbed Mike by the arm and threw him into the gate before he could react, and then he glanced back at the Gatekeeper "I'll make sure you can reunite with your family, I promise." and with that, he jumped through the gateway and disappeared in a white light.

"Such a truly kind and gentle soul riddled by the pain of loss and mistrust. Little does he know that he already has freed my soul." without uttering so much as another word, the Gatekeeper's body suddenly crumbled into ash and scattered into the wind.

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Adam burst out of the gateway on the other side, only to be rather disappointed by what he was seeing "You've gotta be kidding me, this is exactly the same as where we just were only it's black and white!"

"Speak for yourself." Mike picked himself up off of the ground and spat out some rubble "So this is the void between dimensions? Not what I expected."

"What the hell are we supposed to expect?"

"Knowing what your mind is capable of, I would not be surprised regardless of the convoluted theories you would be able to create." a new voice commented dryly.

Adam whipped around and his eyes shot wide "No way… Sir George?"

Sure enough, before him stood Sir George, the first Forever Knight, but now in his elderly form donning a black cloak "It has been some time Sir Cosmic Knight and friend I had yet to previously meet, I must say you've grown quite a great deal since our previous meeting. You've reached full knighthood have you not?"

"And you… well to put it bluntly you're more wrinkly than me after I get out of Carlos' hot tub on weekends."

"I had attempted to absorb the attack from Diagon using Ascalon, but the backlash cost me my renewed eternal youth and transported me here. I do not regret it though, for even then my link with Ascalon allowed me to see what had taken place during the battle. You and Young Master Tennyson both did very well."

"I had a little bit of help though from the last person I would've expected. Mal appeared before me when I ended up in the void between dimensions and lent me some of his fire powers."

"I saw you manifest those flames and Lady Aurora informed me of the situation and your reason for coming here. We had best be moving." he snapped his fingers and a large dragon like creature suddenly appeared behind him "Come, we have much to do and much ground to cover and we have little time."

"...Yeah okay." the two of them hopped onto the dragon, which promptly took off into the gray colored skies "So this is the void between dimensions?"

"Most simply refer to it as the Void, we simply consider it to be a reflection that runs underneath each dimension. In some ways it is very similar, however in other ways it could not be more different."

"Different good or different bad?"

"...Yes. Anyway you have come here in search of Illuminare and Tenebris, the Cosmic Elementals of Light and Darkness."

"We need their power if we're gonna take down Metallum and his little shadow lapdog hiding inside Mike's head."

"Today is your lucky day gentlemen, I will take you to them. But we have to go through various different sections of the Void in order to reach them, they lie in wait for your arrival." he whipped around "But you had best brace yourself, we have unwanted company."

Adam glanced back and saw several black creatures with wings flying towards them "Okay what the hell are those things?" this was followed by lightning randomly flashing all around the three of them "And that's just unnerving."

"The Voids naturally unstable, its intended purpose is to be a general reflection of the instability of the ten dimensions that has been caused by the civil war between the Cosmic Elementals, as well as the presence of two those eight here. Going back to those creatures following us they are known as Void Seekers, they are unfortunate souls who became lost in between dimensions and as a result they are now forever trapped in those disturbing forms void of any humanity or living consciousness, consumed by a never ending appetite for destruction."

"Is there any way to survive?"

"Only those with unique gifts and abilities like the three of us will be able to survive in here without being completely consumed. Now enough talk, we must hurry." Sir George had his dragon open a portal "This will take us into another area of the Void, now we must be sure to make haste!" and so they raced through the portal, leaving the Void creatures behind screeching in unrelenting fury.

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Adam looked around in the next area of the Void "This is your world Sir George, but isn't this the canyon where you sealed away Diagon? Ben and I pretty much demolished it when we took out Vilgax, how is it back to normal?"

"As I told you before, things are different here in the Void." Sir George told him "Now pay attention, we have company." he gestured to the Void Seekers charging towards him "I believe this is what you would refer to as things getting a bit more complicated."

"Hey tell me something Sir George, is it possible to destroy these things?"

"Of course it is, did you hear me say otherwise?"

"Good enough for me. **Cosmic Fire… ROAR!"** Adam breathed out a blast of fire, engulfing the Void Seekers in explosions of black flames "That one was for you Natsu!"

"Well done now we must get moving, before more of them come looking for us. The sector will destabilize the longer that we stay here due to you two discharging so much energy, you must hurry while you can." Sir George opened another portal and de summoned his dragon, causing them to fall to the ground "This is as far as I can take the two of you, the rest of this journey you will have to take on your own."

"And I don't suppose there's any way we can convince you to try and come back to our dimension with us?"

"My purpose in that plain of existence is complete, I have no place there anymore. Now my only goal is to try and maintain the balance of the void to the best of my ability. I can do no more for you Sir Cosmic Knight, the rest is up to you." and with that, he disappeared in a white flash of light.

"...Come on Mike, let's go." and on that semi sorrowful note, Adam and Mike both jumped into the portal, which promptly closed behind them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Adam and Mike exited the portal, which closed behind them, and looked around at where they had ended up "Well isn't that just f*cking typical, we're in some kind of flipside version of Ocean Falls. Seriously, there's the pizza place right over there."

"And I can see your apartment from here." Mike pointed out "I think you left your TV on in there, no wait there's Cody and Gwen and I think the two of them are- Oh god I didn't need to see that!"

"Alright enough with the jokes about Cody's sex life which is better than either of ours, we'd better find out wherever the hell Illuminare and Tenebris are hiding out in here. And I think I know the perfect place for us to start looking."

"...I think I'm following your logic. Come on, let's just blitz up there."

"No can do, I don't wanna risk blitzing anywhere using my powers so that we don't attract anymore Void Seekers. Besides, I kind of want to take in some of the scenery that the Void has to offer."

"If you say so." and so the two of them nonchalantly walked down the street in the Void version of their hometown, intent on finding the two Cosmic Elementals of Light and Darkness and being judged by them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hours passed, and the gray colored sun was beginning to set in the Void Ocean Falls, causing the sky to turn from light gray to a darker gray.

Adam and Mike slowly made their way towards the hill outside of the city limits when the former of the two suddenly stopped "You can sense it right? They're watching us from afar right now. Alright I know you're there, go ahead and come on out already."

Sure enough, in a burst of light two figures appeared before them, one of them being covered in purest white scales, the other in midnight black scales, both of them having visible Cosmic Lacrimas implanted in their chests, as well as visibly eyes and mouths, but aside from that they had no other visible characteristics "So you have come at last."

"I'm guessing the white one is Illuminare and the black one is Tenebris, respectively the Cosmic Elementals of Light and Darkness."

"And you are the latest life of Tempestatis, born on a primitive water based planet known to your kind as Earth. The other one is the latest host for Sordibus, the shadow creature that Metallum had created using Cosmic energy that he had managed to steal from us. That wretch disgusts both of us in every sense of the word, and yet at the same time so do many humans from your planet Earth, such as the wretch Chris McLean."

"Not inaccurate but go on."

"Both of us have observed mortals from this planet and countless others from the lower realms of the universe for one eon after another in order to see how they would survive and thrive. Are they truly deserving of salvation from the likes of Metallum, Terrae and Urere? Over the years we have observed the dealings than I would care to count. Mortals thrive, they quarrel, they perish, and they repeat this same cycle time and time again on an endless loop. And now it would appear that for them to keep doing this would be the height of futility. And yet now here the two of you are, so the question remains. Are mere human beings capable of surpassing the likes of our kind, or is such thing so impossible to attain that it will forever remain little more than a fantasy?"

"Well I guess we're about to find out." Adam dropped into a combat stance, with Mike backing up slightly, both surrounded by glowing auras, the former's being electric blue with a tint of red and white, and the latter's being a mix of both black and white.

"I suppose we will." Illuminare dropped into a combat stance, with Tenebris quietly doing the same.

"Remember Mike we're facing what may very well be the two most powerful beings in the universe. If we're gonna win this one so we can go home then we'll need to give it everything that we've got."

"Yeah I know Adam, but if it's all the same to you I'm gonna try and follow your lead for the time being." Mike told him.

"That's probably for the best, Sordibus power inside of you or not I'm still a lot stronger than you are."

"Oh believe me I know, now let's do this. For the sake of our friends."

"For the sake of our friends." and with the sound of a pebble dropping the two charged forward before either Illuminare or Tenebris could react and dealt them two simultaneous uppercuts to the jaw, sending the two of them.

" **Cosmic Light Uproar!"** Illuminare was the first one to rebound and unleashed a blast of white light from his mouth, manipulating its path.

"Mike get out of the way!"

"I know!" Mike suddenly switched to Svetlana "The power of Cosmic or not, they cannot match the greatness of Svetlana!" he/ she leapt into the air to avoid the attack, only to be cornered at what happened next.

" **Cosmic Shadow Slash!"** Tenebris charged at Mike and unleashed a sword made of pure black energy.

" **Cosmic Shadow Slash!"** Svetlana ripped off their shirt, causing her to change to Vito, and then countered the shadow sword with his very own before dealing Tenebris a spin kick to the face, sending him tumbling away.

"And now you're mine!" Adam grabbed Tenebris by the face and then forced him to the smoke as he grabbed Illuminare as well " **Cosmic Lightning… DOUBLE STRIKE!"** he attacked them both with simultaneous blasts of lightning from each arm.

Illuminare picked himself up off of the ground, with Tenebris doing the same "Well well not bad, rather impressive actually. I can see why you were able to give Metallum as much difficulty as you did when you sent him here."

"And you guys really call yourselves the two most powerful Cosmic Elementals? Come on stop holding out on us, if we're gonna kill Metallum then I need to know just how far I'll be able to go with this power."

"Very well then, if that is your wish then so be it." Illuminare was engulfed in a potent white aura, with Tenebris being engulfed in a potent black aura "Now we are ready to take this battle seriously."

"Then go ahead and make a move already."

"If you say so." Illuminare burst forward and started dealing Adam a furious barrage of punches and kicks.

"Adam hold on!" Mike took back control of his body and started attacking Tenebris in a frantic frenzy, only to find himself unable to land a single hit.

"Try as you might boy, it is impossible to touch a shadow." Tenebris suddenly morphed into a shadow and shot towards Mike at full speed, phasing through all of his punches and kicks and dealing him a solid kick to the face, before both he and Illuminare managed to quickly get the drop on both Adam and Mike and dealt them both furious attacks from above, driving them into the ground.

Adam pulled himself and Mike back to their feet and spat out some blood "You know it's bad manners to hold out on someone when you're in a fight."

"You have no room to speak boy." Illuminare dealt Adam another fierce barrage of attacks, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Well this is bad."

"I think it's some kind of power amplification technique." Mike noted "Plus they're Light and Darkness so they're bound to be similar, combine those factors with their teamwork and they're practically unstoppable."

"Practically meaning that we can still kick their asses of course."

"You say those things as if you still have even a chance of victory!" Illuminare and Tenebris both charged at Adam and Mike and started dealing the two of them a furious two man barrage of punches and kicks "I must admit though, having the chance to beat down someone who claims to have the same power as us is rather satisfying!" he finished his combo by dealing Adam a fierce fist to the gut, followed by an energy blast.

Adam barely managed to stop himself, only to suddenly freeze in plane as a white circle appeared on his chest "What the hell… What is this? What did you do to me? Why the hell can't I move?"

"That would be my Cosmic Light Talon, with it I am capable of creating a stigmata on the body of my opponent wherever I strike them, thereby paralyzing them. Now you're helpless before the true Light of the Cosmic Elementals.

"Adam!" Mike tried to rush over to help him.

However, Tenebris started blocking him and cutting him off at every single turn "In the end the Shadow will always engulf its prey in darkness, and there will never even be a moment in which you see it coming. **Cosmic Shadow Crushing Fang!"** he blitzed behind Mike and prepared to close in for the kill.

That is, before Mike somehow managed to slip his shirt off, turning him to Vito, the enhanced strength accompanied by this allowing him to catch the attack before he could take any damage, despite being sent skidding back a few feet "Yo I wouldn't be too sure of that punk, now let me show you what Mike's got up his sleeve in the form of the V Man." he dealt Tenebris a sharp spin kick to the face.

Illuminare charged at Adam, white energy gathering around his arm "Any last words before I finish this battle boy?"

"Yeah I've actually got one. **BURNING SHOOT!"** Adam suddenly burst forward and landed a flame enhanced uppercut kick to the jaw on Illuminare, sending him crashing to the ground in a heap.

"How… How did you break free of my stigmata? You should not be able to move, let alone attack."

"You didn't count on me being able to burn off the stigmata did you? Alejandro of the Crimson Jaguar made that mistake with me before and now you've done the exact same thing. You're definitely a lot stronger than I thought you'd be though, I'm not one to deny credit where credit is due. But that being said, at least I don't make a bullshit habit of underestimating my enemies in a fight."

"You are insane, and yet at the same time you're quite clever."

"It's what I do, hey Vito how are you holding up?"

As it turns out, Vito had caught Tenebris by the throat "Hey what's the matter, I thought you were getting so cocky a second ago. What you mad bro? Don't underestimate the proud people from Ocean Falls Canada ya cocky bastard! **Cosmic Shadow ERUPTION!"** Vito threw a ball of black energy at Tenebris, sending him crashing through several buildings.

" **Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: ROARING THUNDER!"** Adam hit Illuminare with his most power blast of lightning, sending him crashing through several buildings, leaving him landing right next to Tenebris, allowing Adam and Vito to go on the offensive, dealing the Cosmic Elementals of Light and Darkness a fierce and rapid barrage of attacks, landing clear and visible wounds on them.

Illuminare and Tenebris pulled themselves out of the rubble, still surprisingly confident despite the beatings that they had received, a white aura surrounding the body of the former "The power that the two of you wield as well as your mastery over said power is quite impressive. I suppose now we will have to show you all of the power at our disposal but you should be warned, when we decide to go all out your measly imitations could stop us."

' _His power level just shot up higher than anything else I've ever felt before, whatever this is he's about to try something big.'_

"You had best be ready Tempestatis, for now I am coming for you! **Secret Art: DIVINE COSMIC NOVA!"** Illuminare charged forward and unleashed a powerful blast of light, resulting in a blinding explosion, only to receive a shock as the smoke cleared "That shouldn't be possible!"

Sure enough, when the smoke cleared, Adam's body was crackling with white electricity, blue markings covering his body, having stopped the attack with a single hand "You know I really do have to give you credit, I didn't think I would have to resort to this technique. See it's kind of a support technique that I created with Alejandro inside of Aurora's Time Dilation Zone, it's meant to amplify my powers without fully transforming."

"YOU WILL BE MINE!" Tenebris charged at Vito in a blind rage.

However, Vito dealt Tenebris a simple backhand to the face, sending Tenebris crashing to the ground "You ready for this Adam?"

"You bet I am." Adam threw Ascalon over to Vito and together the two of them went on the counterattack once again "Man this feels insane, and I never even had my Second Origin awakened like you and the others did."

"You didn't? Then how the hell are you so strong?"

"A couple of pick me ups from you know who, still though I knew that we'd be stronger but I never imagined we'd be able to thrash these guys like this! I don't think I've ever felt as alive as I do right now!"

"Yeah you got that right." and then Vito switched back to Mike "Combine your limitless amount of power and all of the skills provided by my personalities and my own Cosmic power and the two of us are on a whole different level."

"Together you and I are totally unstoppable."

"You should not become so overconfident as this boys, for neither of us have reached the limits of our power as of yet." Illuminare pulled himself out of the ground, with Tenebris doing the same "Regardless of that the two of you are doing far better than we had anticipated. Now myself and Tenebris believe that for your performance here today, you have earned the right to see it."

"See what exactly?"

"The true power of Light and Darkness unrestrained!" Illuminare was suddenly engulfed in a very potent white aura, with Tenebris being engulfed in a potent black aura, all distinguishable features no longer visible on either of them aside from the Cosmic Lacrimas that could be seen in their chests.

"Oh crap. Get ready Mike, they're not playing around anymore."

"What is that though?" asked Mike "Is that like your Cosmic Knight transformation or something?"

"Actually that's their version of it, despite the numerous enhancements my form has received over the course of the past few weeks. Cosmic Knight is just what I call it, the true term for the form is called Cosmic Force and according to my understanding it's pretty much the power capable of destroying everything."

"Oh. Oh crap."

"Yeah you'd better get ready, now they're coming at us at full power."

"R-Right." Mike brandished Ascalon.

"You will only be facing me from now on." Illuminare stepped forward, with Tenebris staying in the back slightly "The two of you may come and face me both at the same time, show me what you can do against me true power." and before either Adam or Mike could react he burst forward and slugged Adam across the face, sending him flying.

Mike tried to slash Illuminare with Ascalon, only to miss and instead be hit with a blast of light energy, but he was able to quickly recover and transform into Svetlana.

" **Cosmic Flame BURST!"** Adam rocketed forward with a blast of fire from his feet and he and Svetlana began attacking Illuminare with a two man barrage of punches and kicks, to no avail ' _He's so much stronger and faster now, you wouldn't think.'_

Illuminare brushed aside their attacks with ease and leapt high into the air "And now see for yourselves the true power of a Cosmic Elemental! **Cosmic Light's HOLY ROAR!"** he unleashed a massive energy blast from his mouth, engulfing both Adam and Svetlana in a massive explosion that engulfed the entirety of the city, forcing Tenebris to back away a great distance.

When the smoke finally cleared, Adam and Svetlana both suddenly burst up into the air and tried to go on the offensive " **Cosmic Lightning ROAR!"** he breathed out a powerful blast of lightning.

" **Cosmic Shadow ROAR!"** Svetlana breathed out a blast of black energy, the two simultaneous attacks engulfing.

When the smoke cleared, it revealed that Illuminare wasn't even scratched by their combined onslaught and he just landed on the ground, white energy gathering in his hands "The radiance of a Light shining through out the cosmos and purifies everything that it touches. **Cosmic Light's DIVINE LASER BARRAGE!"** he unleashed a barrage of white laser energy blasts, bombarding both Adam and Svetlana, sending the two of them flying high into the air while he constantly dodged their attacks, before they ended up crashing to the ground in two separate heaps, much to his joy "Do you see that mortals? Do you now truly understand the power that a true Cosmic Elemental is capable of? Now the two of you may ponder this defeat in the afterlife and know that you never had the power nor the resolve to defeat either of us!"

"Such things are inevitable." Tenebris returned to the battlefield "This is proof of such a claim such as that, these boys are now lying battered and beaten at the hands of a true Cosmic Elemental of Light, they persevered well up until now but now it has come to an end."

"That is the truth, it is a shame but that is how the universe works." Illuminare deactivated his Cosmic Force and looked down at the bodies of Adam and Mike "You both fought hard and fought well, but in the end I suppose it just wasn't meant to be. And here I thought you could actually be able to defeat Metallum."

"Don't get so ahead of yourself." Adam slowly staggered his way back onto his feet, and he looked over at Mike's unconscious body "You put up a great fight Mike but leave the rest to me, I'll take care of it from here." he quickly moved Mike's body out of harm's way, leaving Ascalon with him in the process "Not gonna lie I'll be feeling that little onslaught for a while though, but that being said you shouldn't have shown me all of your tricks so early in the fight. Now I know the timing of your attacks, the way you defend against my attacks and even the way that you blink with those eyes that I can't see. But most importantly you underestimate your opponents because they're mere mortals, and that's just a few reasons as to why I'm gonna beat you here and now."

"No that's impossible! I used the full power of my Cosmic Force, you shouldn't be able to stand let alone fight."

"Yeah well look how that turned out."

"Your companion has already been defeated, do you really think that you can defeat either of us on your own?"

"Oh I don't think I can, I know I can."

 **Venit aveus ille**

 **O Messiah, O Messiah**

"You possess unrivaled determination to win and a passion for battle that burns as brightly as the fire that you control." Adam's body began radiating an electric blue colored aura as he began powering up.

 **Yuduliya ~ Vele**

 **Yuduliya ~ Vele**

 **Yuduliya ~ Vele**

 **Yuduliya Iyaliya**

"In order to walk the path of a warrior and eventually reach the end of that path, I was always taught that there's one thing that I need to truly understand. Let me show you what that is, only when you understand how and why I'm going to take Metallum down!" and so with a furious strain filled roar, Adam was engulfed in a massive white light and a force that shook the entire Void between dimensions itself.

 **Feel it drawing nearer**

 **An endless fear that takes you hold**

 **Feel it getting closer**

 **Revealing such an evil soul**

Illuminare and Tenebris both stood there in disbelief of the power being put out by the transformation "What… How could this be? This boy has tapped into the power of the Cosmic Force?"

 **I can't surrender at the turning point of destiny**

 **Right now it's do or die; my life is on the line and I will not flee**

 **By my power**

 **Woah-woah, it's clear to me!**

 **My spirit grows and I will face this demon**

 **Woah-woah, with burning energy**

 **The day of fate has finally come!**

The light dissipated to reveal Adam standing there, his hair now a shade of pure silver with blood crimson on the sides his eyes a shade of electric blue, lightning bolt marks running down his right arm with a tornado mark on his left arm, the image of a flame appearing on his right leg and the symbol of a brightly shining light on his left leg, his entire body crackling with silver colored electricity "And for the record my name is no Tempestatis, it's Adam, Adam Anderson of Ocean Falls, Canada."

"It does not matter if you have the power of the Cosmic Force, do you really believe that you can take us on by yourself and expect to win? That is one mistake that you will not live to regret in the end."

"Well I guess we're about to find out soon enough."

"I suppose we will, but there is one thing that you had best not forget boy." Illuminare was engulfed in a white aura, with Tenebris being engulfed in a black aura as they both entered their Cosmic Force forms once again "Keep in mind that we also have control over the power of the Cosmic Force, there is nothing in any of the 10 dimensions or this entire universe that can surpass that power and all three of us wield that power, and now you're about to learn that first hand!" and he charged forward at full speed.

Adam suddenly stopped Illuminare by catching his attack with one hand "Well then I guess that makes three of us!"

"BE SILENT BOY! THIS IS THE POWER OF A TRUE COSMIC ELEMENTAL AND I SHOULD KNOW, IT IS HOW I WIELD THE POWER TO CONQUER THE UNIVERSE IF I DO SO WISH!"

"Is that right? Then I guess it's only right that I show you first hand how I use this power at my disposal to protect my friends that you dared to mock! You may call them weak but they are what give me the strength I need to keep fighting, it's my desire to protect them that make me that much stronger!" Adam dealt Illuminare a Roaring Thunder blast, sending him tumbling backwards.

" **Cosmic Shadow UPROAR!"** Tenebris unleashed a blast of black colored energy from his mouth.

" **Cosmic Tempest ROAR!"** Adam breathed out a powerful blast of wind, overpowering the black energy blast and engulfing Tenebris in an explosion.

"I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU!" Illuminare charged at Adam in a blind rage, with Tenebris doing the same.

Adam started fending off their attacks with ease "You see there's something that you oughta know about me, I'm the kind of guy who just keeps getting stronger depending on the opponent that I'm fighting, so the stronger you guys get the stronger that I have to get in order to match what you guys put out!" and to prove this point he fired another Roaring Thunder blast at the two of them, engulfing them in a massive explosion.

Illuminare and Tenebris both charged through the explosion and attempted to go back on the offensive, using unique combinations of Light and Darkness in the form of various combination attacks.

Adam managed to maneuver around the attacks and countered with his own fire and lightning attacks "Now do you get it? I'm as strong as I am not because I fight for myself, but because I fight to protect my friends!"

"THEN WE'LL PUT THAT RESOLVE TO THE TEST!" Illuminare and Tenebris were both engulfed in white and black spheres of pure energy respectively.

' _They must be trying to merge their attacks into one, creating a single attack strong enough to take me out._ You know I'll give you guys the credit you deserve, you really do deserve to be called the most powerful of all of the Cosmic Elementals. But that being said, you can never reach your full potential with power alone! You need the reason and the resolve in order to back it up! My reason and my resolve are one in the same, I fight for the sake of protecting my friends and that will never change!" he cupped his hands at his side, Cosmic energy of Wind, Lightning, Fire and Light building in a ball in between his palms " **Ka… Me… Ha… Me…"**

"WE SHALL SEE ABOUT THAT! **COSMIC DIVINE SHADOW LASER FANG!"** pooling all of their combined power into one final attack, combining Light and Darkness into one concentrated energy.

" **HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"** pouring every last ounce of his power that he could spare, Adam unleashed an energy blast straight out of the Dragon Ball handbook, the clash between the two techniques engulfing the entirety of the Void Ocean Falls, but after a moment the Kamehameha won out and overcame the Divine Shadow Laser Fang before finally engulfing both Illuminare and Tenebris in a massive explosion that covered the limits of the entire city and beyond.

When the smoke finally cleared after a few moments, both Illuminare and Tenebris stood back up "Adam… Son of Ander… your power… knows no bounds… and no limits…" and then they both fell forward

The smoke cleared even further, it revealed Adam, heavily exhausted and bleeding, tired but triumphant, and he let out a roar of victory before it died down "Alright you don't have to hide in the smoke, come on out already Mike."

Sure enough, Mike limped his way out of the shadows "I just wanted to watch the great Cosmic Knight in action… you never cease to amaze Adam and I don't think that's ever gonna change…"

"No it's not now come on, let's go claim our prizes." he slung Mike's arm over his shoulder and helped him over to their down opponents "So what do you have to say now?"

Illuminare slowly struggled to lift his head and look at them "Such courage and mastery of the power of a Cosmic Elemental. Perhaps… Perhaps there is some hope for the inhabitants of the universe yet."

"I don't speak for everyone in the universe, I only speak for myself, and all I want to do with that power is protect my friends to the best of my ability."

"We are not like you and the rest of your kind Adam, Son of Ander. We are Cosmic Elementals, we cannot and do not understand your human affection and empathy. However we can feel the resolve that yourself and Mike share, and that we do understand very well. We have both made our decision, our power is now ours to use however you may see fit. Vanquish Metallum and the others, and then do what you see fit with this power."

"And how do we do that exactly?"

"Their is a ritual that we are able to use to transfer our Cosmic Lacrimas into another… You each need only to place a hand on one of us… One of you will receive the power of Light… the other the power of Darkness… Our consciousness will cease… only our Cosmic Lacrimas and powers will persist… and survive in the two of you…"

"Uh huh." Adam glanced back at Mike "Are you comfortable with this? I mean having one of their powers in your body?"

"Adam I haven't been comfortable since we were 8." Mike pointed out dryly "If anything this will be a nice change of pace. How about you take the Light and I take the Darkness, kind of fitting considering what's gonna happen in the next few months."

"...Yeah okay fair enough." Adam placed a hand down on top of Illuminare, with Mike doing the same to Tenebris "Just for the sake of being clear, you try anything funny and we're both driving your asses right back out."

"How very… kind of you…" Illuminare ground out "And here we are… passing onto two human children… the greatest gift… a Cosmic Elemental can offer…"

"Yeah sure that's great. In case it wasn't clear we're a little strapped for time, Metallum could show up back on Earth at any minute."

"Just be sure… that Metallum… suffers for… for what he's done…"

"Yeah well that is what we had in mind, now hurry up and do it before I have second thoughts about this."

"So be it… I bid you… the best of luck…" and with that Illuminare was engulfed in a white light, with Tenebris being engulfed in a black light, both of these thing being followed by a powerful surge, and when everything settled down both Illuminare and Tenebris had disappeared, never to be seen again.

"Woah, shit that got crazy."

Mike was somewhat less vocal about his feelings about his new power "Woah, just woah…"

"You have such a way with words Mike, but seriously this feels insane! I feel like we're unstoppable now! And now we're gonna head back to Earth and show Metallum what the Cosmic Knight and his Five-Faced Court Jester can do!"

"Yeah, yeah you're right. Now let's head back to Earth- Wait a second."

"What?"

"Did you just dub me as your sidekick?"

"You say that like you weren't already." and thus began their very long trip back to Earth of Dimension 8.

 **A/N:**

 **Now that Adam has told Devin and Carrie the whole truth behind his lifelong ordeal with Mal I figured it was time to begin the wrap up of his story arc before we move onto the two part finale of the Ridonculous Race.**

 **The scene with Adam and Mike on the hill is loosely based on the scene from episode 56 of DBZ Abridged by Team Four Star.**

 **The scene where Adam and Mike say their goodbyes to Bridgette and the others is based on the scene from Yu Yu Hakusho where Yusuke says his goodbyes to everybody before he goes to Demon World. Also, in case there was some confusion for non Fairy Tail fan readers, here's the link to show what that sign means:** **/c/fairy-tail/page/item/fairytale-symbol/R4Qe_WnTvIn4375qwqKkBEkVmLMxYzdKo**

 **The scene with Adam and Mike on the planet Ostium (Latin for Gateway) with the guardian known as Guide is based on the scene with Thanos, Gamora and the Red Skull on the planet Vormir from Avengers: Infinity War, with them mostly filling the roles of Thanos and Gamora and the role of the Red Skull/ Stonekeeper, or Gatekeeper in this case, being filled by the last native survivor of the planet. Also, if any of you are made about this spoiler for Infinity War then I say that it's not my problem. It's been more than 6 months, if you haven't bothered to see the movie yet then that's your own fault.**

 **The idea of the Void between dimensions being shadow voids based on dimensions that Adam and Mike and the others had visited before is actually based on the concept behind the Shadow Zone from the Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5 cartoon from a few years ago, and the role of Rawkus is played by Sir George, who was sent to the Void when Diagon's energy blast struck the blade of Ascalon.**

 **The Adam & Mike vs Illuminare & Tenebris fight is based on the Natsu and Gajeel vs Sting and Rogue fight from Fairy Tail. I figured that if I was going to have my two main characters fight creatures with power over Light and Darkness then I would need a similar source. Plus it was a lot of fun incorporation Mike's alternate personalities like Vito and Svetlana into the mix.**

 **The scene where Illuminare and Tenebris grant their powers to Adam and Mike respectively is based on the Namekian Fusion process from the Dragon Ball Z anime. This will not be the last time I use that as a basis for a plot point, expect that in the final story of this series which, as I've stated before, will be covering Total Drama All Stars.**


	15. Keep Moving Forward

**(Takes place one month after the events of The Ridonculous Underdogs)**

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" _Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the Wind and Lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take both their powers for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallium was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see that Metallum would fall for his betrayal. However, that is not the whole story. What very few are aware of is that there are two other Cosmic Elementals who refused to take part in the war, two who refused to take sides because they were unsure of how the evolution or mortals would turn out in the end. These two were known as Illuminare and Tenebris, the Cosmic Elementals of Light and Darkness. As the war between their fellow Cosmic Elementals raged on and ravaged the universe, they had retreated into the shadows to observe how the mortals would react. They had wondered if the mortals of the lower realms of each universe were creatures that were truly deserving of the protection of the gods. I have observed the dealings than I would care to count. Mortals thrive, they quarrel, they perish, and they repeat this same cycle time and time again on an endless loop. At that time it seemed to me that for them to keep doing this would be the height of futility. I had even gone so far as to wonder what sense there was in protecting such flawed beings when they would consistently repeat the same tragic mistakes time and time again without showing any signs of developing, and ponder if it were to be more merciful on our part to put an end to such hopeless cycles once and for all. However, after the fated battle between Metallum and Tempestatis had at last come to a close and the mortals began to rebuild the remains of their civilizations across the universe, that was when Metallum appeared and offered a solution to their dilemma. They would pool their power into one point and create a warrior that was mixed of both light and darkness, intended to follow the spirit of Tempestatis for as long as he reincarnated through over one hundred lifetimes in over one hundred different races. Now the mission of the Warrior of the Hurricane has become much more grave, and if both Metallum and his warrior of darkness are not slain then the legacy of the Cosmic Elementals will be forever tarnished and lost to the memory of time."_

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The skies were calm over the city of Ocean Falls, and the sun was shining brightly.

Cody was sitting on the hillside sketching the early morning sunrise "You know Adam once told me that it's the little things in life that really count, and after spending a good few weeks travelling across different dimensions, fighting characters we thought only existed in cartoons and anime, I can only agree with that now more than ever." his expression fell, and with a heavy sigh he leaned back on the grassy hillside, his thoughts drifting with the wind ' _It's been 4 full weeks since Adam and Mike went into the void in between dimensions, a little bit under a month ago. Devin, Carrie, Geoff, DJ, Gwen, Kevin and everyone else competing in the Ridonculous Race came back about a week after they left, and me and Bridgette told Devin, Gwen, DJ, Kevin, Carrie, and even Zeke and Trent all of the details of where they had gone and what had gone down between them and Mal and all of that. They all believed it right away, I guess that proves that when you spend enough time with someone like Adam nothing can really surprise you anymore. But then again, with Adam popping in and out in the blink of an eye like that and giving a bunch of them swords made from an evil fire dragon, it's not like they really had that much of a choice. Even so, I'm glad they accepted it without saying anything.'_

"I was wondering where you would disappear too so early in the morning." Gwen came up and sat down next to him.

' _Ever since Adam and Mike left I've been training with Alejandro and Bridgette nonstop to become strong enough to be able to keep things cool while he's gone, and most importantly to be able to protect Gwen. Normally I'd be nervous about something like this but knowing that the others have my back keeps my fear under control, so I like to believe that I'm dealing with it pretty well.'_

"You know Bridgette and Carrie are dragging me out shopping later and everyone decided to make a day out of it, you wanna come?"

"Yeah sure why not, I could use a breather from training." Cody got to his feet and glanced up at the skies once more ' _Adam, I know you'll make it back home soon safe and sound. The only question is, when? And what are you doing right now?'_

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" **Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: ROARING THUNDER!"** Adam unleashed a power blast of lightning and fired it at a large number of Void Seekers, obliterating them on the spot, only for several more to appear and charge at him and Mike "Hey come on now Mike, there is no way that you can seriously look me in the eye and tell me that this isn't the definition of awesomeness!"

"Let's just say that it feels- Wait hold on. **Light Grenade!"** Mike slammed his hands together, charged a white colored energy sphere, and then fired it at another group of Void Seekers, obliterating them "Let's just say… it feels different. So how do we get back to our dimension exactly?"

"From what Aurora told me there are a few points of intersection where the interdimensional membrane separating the Void from dimensions like ours is a lot thinner than others, so a well timed powerful charge of electricity amplified by some of your Cosmic power should cause a temporary tear, which will allow us to make the jump back into our dimension. Makes sense doesn't it?"

"Not even a little bit."

"That's what I thought, now let's just go home already. We've been wandering around in here for more than a day so at least a month has to have passed back home. I wonder what everyone is up to right now."

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It was a special day in Ocean Falls, mainly because it was the day of some beauty pageant being held in the mall for some reason.

Geoff glanced over at Devin, Zeke, Noah, Trent and DJ standing in the line in front of him "Hey do you guys think you can hold my place in line for a few minutes? I've gotta take a leak that's been making my crotch feel like I've got a beehive stuck down there for the past half hour."

"Not a chance dude, if you leave then you go to the back of the line." Trent told him firmly "Just like the rest of us."

DJ let out a yawn "Am I the only one who thinks this is boring?"

"Yeah well my feet hurt, I'm starting to think that this wasn't such a brilliant idea after all. I don't think I could last through this for three more hours, the way I see it we might as well just go home."

"Way ahead of you, I'll see you idiots at the food court." and then Noah and Zeke just walked away without giving a damn.

"See, even he gets it."

"Hey come on now big guy, you're in the pole position." Geoff tried to coax him "You can't just give up now. You've gotta be strong, no ordinary wuss is gonna get front row seats at a pageant like this. This is the best one that Canada has to offer! Rare beauties from every single one of the 13 provinces of Canada! I'm talking Miss Alberta, Miss Ontario, Miss Quebec, 13 of the most beautiful women our proud country has to offer all walking around in their underwear for all of the world, and more importantly us, to see up close and personal!"

"Well except for the Yukon." Devin pointed out.

"Whatever, my point is that you guys are missing the most essential point!"

Trent let out a chuckle "Well Nova Scotia won't fail ya."

"See even Elvis gets it!" and then he started running around in circles, until…

"Enough of this already!" DJ grabbed him by the cowboy hat and yanked him backwards "You know it wouldn't kill you to show some restraint dude, this is ridiculous. Come on Devin let's set a good example for these pervs."

Devin could only blush at the thought "Hey you don't have anything to worry about with me you guys, Carrie is the only beautiful woman in the world that I need."

"There you see, guys like you and me are here for far more noble reasons than perves like this guy."

Geoff gave a lecherous grin and elbowed DJ in the chest "Oh now I gotcha bro, you're here girlfriend hunting am I right?"

"Well what do you say dude, you think I could really find Mrs Right here?" DJ was quick to do a 180 "I mean not the winner of course, it could be just a runner-up! Or hey I'm not picky, it could be the unlucky one who comes in dead last! Dry your tears mademoiselle, DJ is here to take away your pain!"

"...Are you serious?" Devin and Trent shared a look and turned to DJ "Dude you really need to get a girlfriend."

"I really do don't I?"

Devin just let out a sigh ' _How the heck did I get stuck with these idiots? I should've stayed with Cody and the girls, there's no way that shopping could've been this bad right?'_ and yet the poor bastard had no idea just how wrong he was.

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Meanwhile, with the whipped little son of a bitch- I mean Cody…

"Give me that!" Jen on the other hand was in the middle of drilling her way through a massive crowd of shoppers "You touch those Thai curtains and I swear to god I'll turn one of those hoop earrings into a septum ring!"

Cody just observed this from afar "Wow and I thought that mud wrestling Adam and Mike showed me back in middle school was rough, that's got nothing on this."

"Jen has always been like this." Tom made his way over carrying a large stack of boxes "She's always loved shopping because it's her way of relieving stress."

"Oh. Does it work?"

"Well…"

"Enough with the daydreaming Tom, heads up!" Jen tossed a large number boxes onto the stack that he was already carrying, impressing the cashier greatly.

"Looks like we've got quite the stack here, so what's next on the list?"

"Nothing, we got everything that we need to update the blog based on the notes that we made during the race. Plus I bought those dozen fezes you asked for."

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"I WILL MOUNT YOUR HEAD ON MY WEDDING CAKE!" Izzy on the other hand was less than gentle with a much bigger crowd of shoppers, plowing through them like an angry rhino on steroids.

Bridgette observed this from afar, along with Carrie and Gwen "Wow, Izzy sure is set on filling up her and Zeke's wedding registry."

Gwen nodded "Yeah I get that but why the hell do they need six crock pots, or all of these bath bombs that are colored so brightly that they make me wanna vomit? I don't even think that they have a bathroom, Zeke always just went out of the side of the plane."

"Wait a second, that's what that green stream was that I saw whenever I woke up in the middle of the night?"

"You saw that?"

"Yeah but I thought it was just another safety hazard that Chris and Chef were completely ignoring."

"...Oh. Gross."

"You didn't have to see that."

"And I'm glad I didn't." a brief pause between the two of them "So Adam has been gone for awhile huh?"

"Almost a month now."

"You have any idea when he's gonna come back?"

"He'll be back soon, I have no doubt about that. I've learned a lot during these past few months and at the top of that list is that everyone has way more potential than they realize, it's just a matter of applying it. I'll admit that when I first found out about this whole thing it was pretty heavy but if this is what my path is mean to be then so be it, this is my life now and I'm just gonna have to accept that."

"You're being pretty chill about this."

"Well when you find out that your boyfriend is the most powerful warrior in the entire universe you don't really get surprised by anything anymore."

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In the Void, (cue the echo effects of the word Void)…

Adam and Mike were now soaring through the skies across the Void between dimensions while being pursued by a large number Void Seekers "Get ready Mike, we're about to approach the jump point back into the 10 dimensions! Prepare for the jump in 10… 9… 8…" he unleashed a blast of concentrated lightning at one specific point.

"7… 6…" Mike unleashed a powerful blast of both Light and Darkness energy, the two elements combining with Adam's lightning powers to create a temporary tear "5… 4… 3…"

"2… 1… NOW!" going as fast as they could, Adam and Mike both leapt through the temporary tear at full speed, right before it closed behind them a mere fraction of a second later, much to the clear rage of the mindless Void Seekers.

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Meanwhile, in the world of Fairy Tail…

Things were looking up for a certain group former members of Fairy Tail as they finally reached the city of Magnolia.

Lucy was particularly reminiscent of the city as they made their way to the crater where the guild hall once stood ' _In my opinion Magnolia is the jewel of Eastern Fiore, but it had always shown much brighter when the Fairy Tail guild hall was part of the skyline. It's kind of strange to think that it's been an entire year since we've made our way through these streets.'_

Natsu breathed out a purely content sigh "Man does this bring back some kickass memories or what, and they even restored the old Kardia Cathedral."

' _The members that we've been able to find were all in favor of getting the guild back together again.'_

"Dammit the old place hasn't changed a bit, that just shows how tough the people of Magnolia really are."

"Yeah. _After the fight with Avatar our group needed to split up for a little while and take care of some things but we agreed to meet up here in Magnolia, it's a real shame though but I seriously doubt we're gonna get any information about Zeref from those members of Avatar. They went and worshipped him but they didn't actually know anything about him.'_

"Hey Lucy what's with the long face? I thought you'd be pissing yourself over getting Fairy Tail back together?"

"Oh yeah of course I'm happy, I just kind of got lost with my memories for a second. _Yeah that's right, there are so many memories were made here in this town. Some of them are sad and some of them are happy and there are a lot of them that still make me smile, I formed them with my family in Fairy Tail. I was afraid that after what had happened last year those memories would be all that we would have left. Makarov just disbanded the guild and then he was gone before the shock could wear off, we were all left in some kind of daze but eventually everyone did have to start forging their own paths just like he had said, and then just like that the era of Fairy Tail had come to an end. We were left clutching tightly to those memories that we had shared.'_ she suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"Hey Lucy what the hell are you doing, we're almost there. We're practically at the old guild hall so what's the problem."

"...I know that, but to be honest I'm kind of too scared to get any closer."

"Why would you be scared? If it's because the building is gone that's the least important part of the guild, what counts as a guild is what's inside us."

"Yeah I know and we all feel the same way about it, but what about everyone else? I mean it was exciting when you just showed up out of nowhere and talked about restoring the guild so I let myself get fired up too."

"Okay first of all get your own catchphrase."

"Anyway right away I sent out messages to everyone that had been at the guild or at least those that I was able to find, no word from me for an entire year and then suddenly I asked them to drop everything and then come to Magnolia so that we could rebuild the guild. Maybe all of them have done exactly what master had said and then started making their own way through life, maybe all of them have moved on. Are we the only ones who feel this way? What if they have put it in the past, what if they've forgotten about it altogether? I…"

"Hold up a second, I think I smell something." following his nose Natsu glanced over and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head as he saw an interdimensional portal open up in the middle of the street "Okay what the f*ck? Random shit that causes unnecessary destruction is totally our thing."

"Sorry, just trying to make an entrance." that was when Adam and Mike suddenly burst through the portal and caught each other in a high five "Hells to the f*ck yeah, we're back in… Earth Land, not in our world but I'll take it anyway! Hey Natsu what the f*ck is happening my main man?"

"What the f*ck is going on you guys!" Natsu caught them both in fist bumps "Dammit it's been months, I haven't seen you guys since the whole thing in Stella."

"Yeah well it's been a rough road for us, this was just a pit stop on the way back home after our own training trip." he glanced over at Lucy and the others and gave a grin "You know with how much of an insane tantrum the fandom has been throwing over you and Natsu but I can say this. Quit whining and go home already, your family is waiting for the five of you." then he glanced over towards Natsu as he and Mike wrapped their arms around each other "Well we've said what we needed to so let me leave it with this: Natsu I want you to keep that bright head of hair in the clouds, keep your strong feet on the ground, and keep your strong heart where it belongs: with your family."

Natsu nodded "That was the plan all along but if that's what you want then that's totally fine by me."

"And one last thing: When you see Zeref and Acnologia, go and wreck their shit."

"That's the idea."

"Alright come on Mike, let's go home. Until we meet again Fairy Tail." and with that, Adam wrapped an arm around Mike and the two of them disappeared in a flash.

' _And there goes one brave mother f*cker.'_

"Hey Natsu, who the hell was that guy exactly?" asked Lucy.

"One brave mother f*cker Lucy, one brave mother f*cker."

"...Were you able to get a read on either of them? Because I couldn't."

"Not even close."

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The trip back to Dimension 7 was actually put off a little bit by a serious discussion between two of our heroes.

Mike spared Adam a quick yet semi "Are you sure about this Adam, do you really wanna tell them everything about what's been happening between the two of us?"

Adam nodded "Oh yeah I'm as sure as I can be and that says a lot, I mean when am I ever not sure about anything? You already know the answer to that Mike."

"Yeah I do, it's just… No, I'm not gonna start doubting you now."

"...You know it's kind of weird to think about it, it's pretty damn amazing what I've got in life now. I mean I have a loving girlfriend, an awesome little brother, a trusted friend and ally who's been with me in this through every step of the way, unearthly Cosmic powers that I've apparently had since I was born and some of the best friends a guy could ever even dream of having. Most men would throw their lives away ten times over just to get a fraction of those things, I might have to throw my own life away just to make sure that I can keep all of those things. But truth be told… it doesn't really bother me as much as I thought it would, so I guess you could call that a win win of sorts right?"

"You know you're a pretty unique guy Adam, in a lot of senses too."

"Well what could I really say about that? I guess… I guess I'm just not really that afraid of change, and I never really have been, and I'm still not now. When it comes down to it I know that even if anything happens to me then you and the others will be alright. I'm sure of this from the bottom of my heart because if there's any one thing that I've learned since this whole adventure started with a simple road trip with Mike, Zoey and Alejandro then it would have to be that everyone is so much stronger than they believe themselves to be. You and Carrie are prime examples of that, and you're the reason why I know that to be true about myself. I've got some of the best people in the world, in any world in any of the ten dimensions by my side, and I'm really happy about that. Things have changed, they're always changing and they're gonna keep changing, that's something that just can't be stopped." this was followed by a loud beeping noise and a light blinking in the back of Adam's pants "You know it's times like this that I'm glad that I don't have pants for my armor or else that would lead to something super ugly."

"What is that anyway?"

"Oh I guess I forgot to tell you, this is an Utrom communicator that I got from the Turtles after we fought off the Kraang alongside the Utrom."

"You went to 2012 Ninja Turtle Style New York and didn't think to tell me?!"

"Yeah yeah Cody gave me that shtick already." Adam pulled the Utrom communicator out of his pocket and activated it, revealing a hologram of Leonardo "Hey Leonardo it's been awhile, to what do I owe the honor?"

" _Nothing good Adam, we've got another crisis on the horizon and we need your help. Is there any chance you can get here fast?"_

"Yeah we can meet you in the lair in a matter of minutes, so what did some jackass try to bring the Shredder back from the dead? Because someone tried that using a dragon from Hell in this spinoff series about you guys that takes place after you beat Shredder- Oh wait now I think I get it, hang on we'll be there in a few minutes." and before anyone knew it, Adam had suddenly grabbed Mike by the shoulder and the two of them blitzed away.

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" _ **Mavaka sekula nadavaaa, mavaka sekula nadavaaa."**_

Within an underground shrine, Leonardo led the other Turtles into said shrine and observed the scene from a high up ledge to get a feel of the situation "This is it you guys, whatever this is it's definitely not good. Keep your guards up, we don't know what this guy is capable of."

"So what the hell are we supposed to do?" Raphael hissed "What do we just sit around and do nothing?"

"No I called for backup, let's just hang in there for now- Wait shut up, I think that guy's gonna say something important."

Sure enough, the lead hooded cultist figure stood at attention in front of the rest of the figures in the center of the shrine "Hear me my children, at long last our time is nigh. Through your efforts we have at last acquired the scroll of the Demodragon in our possession, and now the time has come for us to summon the being that will give us all of the power in this world that we shall ever need!" he pulled down his hood, revealing his face.

Leonardo had to hold back a gasp "Tiger Claw is the leader of the cult? Oh great as if this could get any worse."

"Excellent work my Foot Cultists, you understand the higher truth that comes with our ambition for our goal. And now I shall use the scroll to summon Kavaxas, and with this mystic Seal of the Ancients I shall take control of him and be his master."

' _...Okay this is definitely not a good thing._ We can't wait for backup, we're gonna need a plan of attack for this. You guys go in and try to distract them, I'm gonna go for Tiger Claw and then get that seal and the scroll from him. Is everyone ready for this?"

"About as ready as those guys are." Michelangelo pointed to where the Foot Cultists were sneaking up on them from behind.

"Oh son of a sewer pickle." and then they got tackled.

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5 minutes later, on the ground…

Tiger Claw looked down at the Turtles on the ground with pure disdain "Well well well if it isn't my old enemies, your timing could not be better for now you may bear witness to the summoning of a much greater being."

Leonardo tried to force his way to his feet, only to be forced back onto his knees "The Foot are finished, why did you bother to come back Tiger Claw? Do you really just want us to beat you again that badly?"

"The Foot is my no means finished Turtle! Look all around you, the Shredder and our Foot Bots may be gone but the spirit of the Foot has been reborn. After our last battle what was left of the Foot went underground, and in these very sewers we discovered a strange race of creatures that are completely dedicated to the Shredder."

"And what are these things exactly?"

"Something your feeble minds could never hope to truly understand. Make them watch our moment of triumph." he waved his hand, causing the Foot Cultists to force the Turtles and the others to the ground.

"Just let us go Tiger Claw or do we have to get rid of all 9 of your lives?"

"Nice solid threat." Raphael commented.

"Thanks, I've been practicing."

"Be silent wretches!" Tiger Claw snarled "All of you will bear summoning to far a greater being than anything you could ever even hope to comprehend in the form of Kavaxas, the most powerful of all of the Demodragons! And soon his power will be mine to command, I will use him to bring Master Shredder back from the dead!" this was met with gasps as he placed the Seal of the Ancients in the pedestal and began reading from the scroll " **Navasa, zaan, kanda, athrovaxa, noruto, zavasay!"** and cue the massive pillar of fire rising from the symbol on the ground " **Mavaka, sekula, nadava, KAVAXAS!"**

The pillar of fire erupted into a powerful explosion that blew nearly everyone away, and when it dissipated it revealed Kavaxas, Lord of the Demodragons and Ruler of the Netherworld, and within seconds he had rounded on Tiger Claw in a rage "You wretched mortal, how dare you call upon Kavaxas, the Lord of the Demodragons and the Ruler of the Netherworld!? For your transgressions I shall turn you and the rest of these abominations to piles of smoldering ash before my feet! **Blazing Draconic Roar!"** he breathed out a massive blast of green fire, intent on backing up his claim.

Tiger Claw protected himself from the blast using the Seal of the Ancients, not intimidated in the slightest "You will do nothing more than obey me dragon."

"The Seal of the Ancients? It would appear that you are somewhat wiser than I had first anticipated creature. So be it then, what is it that you wish for me to do… master?"

"First of all I want you to destroy the Turtles and their human allies as a sign of your fidelity to the Foot Clan, make it slow and make it painful."

"That was the intention master but if that is what you wish then so be it."

"I've got a better idea!" that was when Adam and Mike flashed onto the scene, the former still in his full set of armor and the latter in his simple white martial arts gi "Hey guys sorry we took so long but now we're here to kick some ass."

Leonardo lit up when he saw them "Well you're here now, I guess calling you guys for backup when I heard we might be dealing with some supernatural stuff was the right call."

"Yeah no kidding, Flame Breath here is way too much for you to handle. And so are the disposable mooks for that matter. Speaking of which, Mike."

"I'm on it." Mike suddenly blitzed behind the Foot Cultists and took each one of them out, freeing the Turtles and the others in the process "Like Adam said you guys should get out of here, he and I can handle this one ourselves."

"Alright fine, just be sure to be careful." Leonardo glanced back at the others "Alright guys we're gonna retreat for now, this is way out of our league." he received no complaints and then took off with the rest of them.

"Adam."

"Yeah yeah I know." Adam dealt Tiger Claw a quick uppercut kick to the jaw, blowing him clean through the roof of the shrine and out of sight, before Adam himself set his sights on his true target in the form of Kavaxas "So this is Kavaxas the ruler of Hell huh? Not gonna lie he's a lot more ugly in person than on the big screen."

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Leonardo stopped the rest of the group inside of a random sewer tunnel and took a pause to catch his breath "Okay I think we're safe here."

"What are you crazy?" Raphael let out a scoff "Those guys just showed up out of nowhere with no idea what they're facing and we're letting them fight alone? Well they're gonna find out soon enough."

"No you're wrong about that Raph, we've seen enough of Adam by now to know that he would never fight unprepared. He always tries to get a grip on his opponents first."

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean? Awesome powers or not him and Mike from season 4 of Total Drama showing up hasn't changed a damn thing about our situation!"

"And you're wrong again Raph, it's changed everything. Think about it for a minute, Adam wouldn't do this unless he was absolutely sure that he would win, at least not if we was able to be that calm in that kind of situation."

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Adam dropped into a combat stance, with Mike doing the same in the form of a mirror opposite of his own stance "Not gonna lie, the whole appearance of a dragon from hell is pretty fitting for him."

"Of course it is." Kavaxas let out a scoff "I have always been suited by power, by hatred and by evil. They are the driving forces of the universe, and I am the embodiment of those forces in a physical form."

"And look at you now, the slave of some cyborg catman." Mike pointed out "You abandoned your individuality just to get to this real to take control and cause innocent people to suffer for it."

"Do you take me for that much of a fool boy? I expected far more intellect from the new bearers of the Cosmic powers of Light and Darkness, as well as the bearer of Darkness also being the host of the chosen one Sordibus." this caused Mike to cringe and Adam's combat stance to tense up considerably "Remember this mortals brats. My power is able to stun both Heaven and Hell alike, I have no master for I have no equal. Seal of the Ancients or not I will serve no mortal in this plane of existence, that I can promise you! I will rule all of the 10 dimensions and the first step to that is killing both of you and devouring you whole so that I may be able to make the power Cosmic my own!" a flaming green aura surrounded his entire body, radiating energy that made both Adam and Mike start sweating, not from the level of power mind you, but from the level of heat being generated.

Adam gripped Mike by the shoulder as if to tell him to calm down, giving a silent message without using any actual words ' _Don't let this mother f*cker get under your skin, we can do this if we work together._ Come on let's do this!" and so with his silent message of inspiration working the two of them charged into the fray, both unleashing simultaneous blasts of fire.

" **Draconic Blazing Wing Strike!"** Kavaxas unleashed a blast of fire from both of his wings, the fire attacks cancelling each other out, sending Adam and Mike skidding backwards towards one end of the cave and Kavaxas skidding towards the other "In a dimension of suffering, in an age of pain and agony, I shall rule on a throne made of the bones of my victims and painted in their blood!" with a sweep of his hand he opened a chasm leading to the Netherworld, engulfing the shrine cavern in a thick layer of smoke.

" **Shadow Cannon/ Kamehameha!"** Mike burst through the smoke first with a black colored energy blast of his own making, with Adam firing using his light powers to fire off a full powered Kamehameha in typical Dragon Ball Z fashion, the two blasts blowing Kavaxas backwards, forcing him to take to the air "We're not scared and we're not gonna stop, not against someone like you!"

"There is a massive difference between courage and arrogance you conceded little brats, come and allow me to show you! I Kavaxas had sworn that one day I would rule over any and all dimensions in existence, and now that time has arrived at last!"

"Looks like he's calling us out Adam, are you ready?"

"As if you have to ask." Adam let out a loud snort "Let's just make this quick so I can make a quick stop and then we can finally head home, I've got a lot of things to talk to the others about when we do."

"You say that as if you will leave this place with your lives, which you won't! **Demodragon Secret Art: Black Lotus: Hell Blaze!"** and that was when Kavaxas suddenly blitzed in front of the two of them and unleashed his ultimate attack, in which he unleashed a massive blast of fire from his mouth, engulfing both Adam and Mike in a massive explosion "Such is the fate of all of those who are fated to remain weaklings."

"That's where you're wrong." Adam's voice rang from within the smoke "What gives us our power and resolve to keep fighting, it's our compassion for each other and our bonds with each other that give us the resolve to fight to protect each other. You really are such a tragic creature for constantly failing to understand the light that you lack." the smoke suddenly all cleared awya to reveal Adam and Mike both charging simultaneous energy blasts, the former being a mix of Wind, Lightning, Fire and Light, and the latter being of Fire, Light and Darkness, the two of them combining their powers for one final attack "That is what it means to be a simple mortal that you claim to despise so much!"

"SILENCE! I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO MOCK ME BOY!" Kavaxas prepared to unleash another Hell Blaze attack.

"And now we'll show you just how weak you are like this! **COSMIC JUDGEMENT!"** as they pooled their powers together, Adam and Mike unleashed a devastating combination attack against Kavaxas, engulfing him in an even greater explosion.

"NO THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! HOW COULD I POSSIBLY LOSE TO TWO WORTHLESS MORTAL BRATS?!" now heavily damaged and missing one of his wings, Kavaxas could do little more than helplessly fall into the chasm leading into Hell below, which promptly closed itself back up after he had disappeared from sight.

With the battle at last over, Mike promptly fell flat on his back "Eesh, I'm still not used to these insane anime style battles."

"Yeah well you're a f*cking wuss." Adam just dropped to one knee and let out a chuckle "I mean I've been doing these for at least a few months and I'm still not totally used to them but for a newbie you didn't do too bad." he spat out a little bit of blood "I'm all for bravado but that last attack did take a lot out of me."

"Well it did wonders from where we were standing." that was when Leonardo and the others came back into the shrine, with him picking up the Scroll of the Demodragon and handing it over to Adam in the process "I think we know what has to be done."

"Way ahead of you." with a simple wave of his hand Adam used some of his residual Fire powers to burn the scroll to ash, leaving nothing behind "And now there's no chance of anyone being able to bring Lizard Man back into this world, that kind of power will never be used by anyone ever again." (He was wrong about that but we'll get to that later.)

"So what are you guys gonna do now? I hate to think we ripped you out of your dimension like that out of the blue."

"You didn't, we've spent the last month on a serious training trip in the Void between dimensions making sure we're ready for another huge battle. We were actually about to head back home in a few minutes."

"So are we gonna head back now?" asked Mike.

"No like I said during the battle, there's one other thing that I think I have to do before we can go home. But before that…" he trailed off, followed by a very loud thud.

As it turns out, Tiger Claw had finally landed back on the ground, slightly scorched and clearly pissed "How could I have failed so easily, and because of two human brats no less? But I swear if it is the last thing that I do I will…" he was silenced by an uppercut to the jaw, courtesy of none other than Adam "You little-"

"Spare me the angst Tony, I just wanna talk for a minute and I needed to make sure that you wouldn't interrupt me." Adam pinched the bridge of his nose "Look, if there's one thing that I've learned in my travels across the 10 dimensions and the most important thing that my master taught me it's that revenge is no way to live. It just continue to feed on itself and eat away at your very soul until you're nothing more than the embodiment of hatred and revenge, you won't even have the right to call yourself human, just like what happened to the Shredder. That's what led to his demise, not the Turtles."

Tiger Claw slowly lost his angry expression and gained one that appeared to be rather thoughtful instead.

"It was his own foolish and petty hatred that nearly destroyed the entire world during the battle with the Triceratons, in another timeline he succeeded and you realized what he had done and what he truly was. I know you have the inner strength to see past this, now it's time for you to utilize it. I see a lot of myself in you Tiger Claw, we're both high strung as f*ck. Try to relax a little bit or you'll end up down there with the Shredder, and that would be a damn waste of your potential. Take some time to stop and smell the roses, if you do then you'll be able to see things you were never able to see before and hear things you were never able to hear. Life can be a lot of fun for yourself if you just stop fighting it and let it be. Come on Mike, let's just get me errand done so that we can just go home." and without so much as another word, Adam grabbed Mike by the shoulder and the two of them disappeared in a green flash, leaving the Turtles and their human allies (who hadn't uttered so much as a word this entire chapter) stunned and silent as ever and Tiger Claw lost in his thoughts.

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That thing that had been mentioned by Adam was a relatively simple thing to do when one thought about it.

Having returned to a certain canyon in Dimension 1, Adam used Ascalon to carve a statue of a certain knight figure, as well as a stone plaque beneath the statue ' _Just watch me Sir George, I'll carry on my spirit of a knight and protect my kingdom and its people._ Alright Mike I'm done now."

"So you're ready?" asked Mike.

"Yeah come on, let's just head home already." so Adam grabbed onto Mike by the shoulder and the two of them blitzed away back to their dimension.

In their wake, what they had left behind was a statue of Sir George, the first Forever Knight, and the plaque beneath him read thus:

 _He was the first true knight_

 _He inspired millions_

 _He saved the Earth and the Universe over_

 _He was a living legend_

 _Sir George, the first Forever Knight_

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As Adam had stated, everyone is far stronger than they believe themselves to be, and it's just a matter of finding that strength.

Things have changed, and they're going to keep changing, and there's no possible way to stop something like that.

But now Adam and his friends know that they have what it takes to live their own lives and make their own futures, and for better or for worse that fact will not change.

And now it's simply up to them as to what kind of future they will make.

But that, my dear readers, is a story for another time…

 **A/N:**

 **And with this chapter, we've come to the end of this portion the Underdog series. Now that Adam has told Devin and Carrie the whole truth behind his lifelong ordeal with Mal and now that the race is over, I figured it was time to begin the wrap up of his story arc.**

 **I'd like to take this chance to explain one of the main reasons why I've been doing so many original chapters as I have. I know that people love Total Drama for the sake of the competition, such as the challenges and the chances to vote people off and the like, as I was told in a review by Gazpacho. However, what I love Total Drama for is what I consider to me the main point: the character interactions. Not only is this story meant to build the interactions between the characters and develop them further for the sake of the story, but I also wanted to delve into what is going on in their lives outside of the Total Drama series and show them at what I consider to truly be their peeks: Just teenagers being themselves and doing their own thing. Unless you count the whole "Saving the multiverse" thing, but that's a minor detail.**

 **The scenes, when the characters are shopping and frankly just chilling while waiting for Adam and Mike to get back, unaware of the battle that they're fighting right now, is just meant to be a few little slice of life scenes just to help calm things down., is just meant to be a little bit of a slice of life segment.**

 **The battle with Kavaxas is meant to accomplish a few different objectives. First of all, he's basically being used as a fodder villain to demonstrate how much more powerful Adam and Mike are now (keep in mind that Adam has more of a fighting instinct than Mike does). Second of all, it's part of what I'm doing to make numerous callbacks to the other three dimensions Adam visited during his character arc. Lastly, it's meant to show how far he's come since this story started. Examples would include reuniting with Natsu before Fairy Tail's revival, revisiting the Turtles in New York City, and even returning to where Diagon had once been sealed and making that statue of Sir George to show how much respect Adam has for him.**

 **I originally uploaded this chapter about a week ago but I really rushed it because I was about to go on vacation and I wanted to have that done. I was not pleased with how it turned out, so I deleted that chapter and reuploaded it and now it's much better, examples of this including Adam and Mike visiting the other dimensions (cartoon shows) that had appeared in previous chapters (such as Fairy Tails, Ben 10 and TMNT 2012), with the exception of Kung Fu Panda since that was more of Cody's thing than either Adam or Mike. Plus I had Adam use his newfound power as a way to make a little tribute to Sir George to further show just how much he recpects him.I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who stuck with me through the events of this story. I think it goes without saying that it's had its fair share of ups and downs but in the end I got it done, and that's what counts. Anyway I'm going to be take a small breather from my Underdog series for the time being to work on some other projects, namely a Dragon Ball Z story that I started this year, so I'll get start the final story after I finish the Frieza Saga. Until then my dear viewers, wait in ever growing anticipation of An Underdog's Destiny!**


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